Old jail comes down in Sioux Falls

Minnehaha County work release center that closed after a 2018 fire razed following sale to city of Sioux Falls

Say goodbye to a long-standing Sioux Falls building that once served as a premier community social clubhouse before becoming a county jail.

The former Minnehaha County Corrections Center at 1900 W. Russell Street is no more after crews turned the wood-sided structure into rubble last week. Now owned by the city of Sioux Falls, the lot is marked for future development.

Acquired earlier this year in a $2.1 million deal with the county that also included the city taking ownership of other parcels in the area formerly owned by the county, the Russell Street complex has a storied history.

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(Argus Leader)

Constructed in 1967 by the Benevolent and Protective Order of The Elks of Sioux Falls, the 36,000-square-foot, $600,000 clubhouse became the new home of the club that had been headquartered downtown at Ninth Street and Main Avenue.

As club membership waned over the years, The Elks Club relocated again, prior to Minnehaha County purchasing the property in 1992 for $850,000 before converting it to a jail facility where inmates enrolled in a work-release program were housed. The Corrections Center abruptly closed in 2018, after a fire forced inmates and staff to evacuate. The structure was deemed too far gone to “ever house inmates again."