Hotel Alex Johnson
building in Rapid City, South Dakota
The Hotel Alex Johnson is a historic hotel in Rapid City, South Dakota. It was opened in 1928 by its namesake, Alex Carlton Johnson. From 1956 to 1968, it was operated by Sheraton Hotels and Resorts and was known as the Sheraton-Johnson Hotel. Today, it is part of the Curio Collection by Hilton Hotels & Resorts and is managed by Liv Hospitality.
In 1974, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing property to the Rapid City Historic Commercial District.
History
The hotel was built by its namesake, Alex Carlton Johnson, Vice President of the Chicago & North Western Railroad. Construction began on August 19, 1927, one day before work began on nearby Mount Rushmore. Originally called Hay Camp, the hotel opened on July 1, 1928, and was officially dedicated on August 11, 1928. The building was designed by Chicago architects Oldefest & Williams.
It was sold to the Eppley Hotel Company in 1947.
“Hotel Alex Johnson” enters the record as building in Rapid City, South Dakota. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Hotel, Alex and Johnson can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Hotel Alex Johnson” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Hotel, Alex and Johnson provides the most credible route into that argument.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q17131785. Authority coordinates are 44.080, -103.228. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1928, 1956, 1968 and 1974.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Hotel Alex Johnson”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Hotel Alex Johnson primary sources, Hotel Alex Johnson archive and Hotel research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Hotel Alex Johnson”?
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- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Hotel Alex Johnson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.