The city of Sturgis was founded in August 1876 and is often referred to as the Key City of the Black Hills. It was named for Major Samuel D. Sturgis, commander at the nearby Fort Meade Cavalry Post, who's son, Lt. JG Sturgis, lost his life with General George A. Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. During the great western expansion, Fort Meade, on the eastern edge of Sturgis, served as a United States Cavalry post to nearly every cavalry regiment in the US army. Soldiers trained at Fort Meade, served in the Spanish-American War, the Pancho Villa Incursion and World Wars I and II. The Star Spangled Banner became part of the evening military retreat ceremony at Fort Meade in 1892, long before it became our National Anthem.

While there is some evidence of fur traders, explorers & military expeditions, visiting the area that now makes up Meade County, it wasn't until the discovery of gold in the Black Hills that any large number of whites visited the area. The three famous historic highways to the Hills, in the Gold Rush Days, converged at a stage station near Bear Butte. These roads came from Sidney, Nebraska; Fort Pierre, South Dakota; & Bismark, North Dakota.

In 1938, J.C. "Pappy" Hoel hosted a dirt track races with nine riders that set the course of history. Today, it has evolved into South Dakota's largest tourism event and the worlds largest motorcycle rally. Sturgis and the Black Hills thunder with the sounds of hundreds of thousands, from all over the world as they join together at the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally each August. In 2008, Sturgis will host the 68th Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. The Motorcycle Rally is always held the first full week after the first full weekend in  August beggining on Monday and ending the following Sunday.

Labor Day weekend you will find the largest event in the area hosting Mustangs from around the USA, featuring the early 60's thru new Ford Mustangs, this is a must see event expecting over 600 Mustangs for the 2008 Sturgis Mustang Rally.