Best Web Design in Sioux Falls, SD (2026)

Web Design for Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Sioux Falls grew up around the cascades of the Big Sioux River, where the water tumbles some 25 feet over pink Sioux quartzite bedrock exposed by an ancient glacier. Twice claimed and once burned during frontier conflict, it rebounded into South Dakota's largest city and a financial powerhouse after Citibank moved its credit-card operations there in 1981 to exploit the state's relaxed usury and tax laws. Today it pairs a booming health-care and banking economy with a public-art-lined downtown.

AppWT works with Sioux Falls, SD businesses from Livonia, Michigan, mostly online and travelling as needed.

About Sioux Falls

Also known as. Best Little City in America. Queen City of the West. The Heart of America. The Divorce Colony (historical, 1890s).

History. Two rival groups, the Dakota Land Company of St. Paul and the Western Town Company of Dubuque, Iowa, each claimed land around the falls in 1856-57, building a fortification nicknamed 'Fort Sod' for protection. The settlement was abandoned and burned in 1862 amid conflict between settlers and the Dakota; settlers returned after Fort Dakota was established a few years later. The arrival of the railroad in 1878 spurred rapid growth; the city was granted city status by the Dakota Territorial legislature on March 3, 1883. The falls themselves formed roughly 14,000 years ago when the last glacial ice sheet rerouted the Big Sioux River and exposed the hard pink Sioux quartzite.

Local economy. Diverse economy built on health care, financial services, and meat processing. Citibank relocated its credit-card operations from New York to Sioux Falls in 1981 to take advantage of South Dakota's relaxed anti-usury laws, seeding a large banking sector. South Dakota levies no state corporate or personal income tax, a key draw for financial-services headquarters. Largest employers include Sanford Health (around 11,000) and Avera Health (around 7,900), plus Smithfield Foods/John Morrell meatpacking (around 3,400) and Wells Fargo and Hy-Vee.

Culture and community. SculptureWalk, one of the premier annual public-sculpture exhibits in the U.S., lines downtown sidewalks with 50-plus rotating works each year. Lallycooler, a two-day summer music festival at Great Bear Ski Valley presented by the Washington Pavilion. The Washington Pavilion combines performing arts, visual arts, and the Kirby Science Discovery Center under one roof. Winter draws visitors to holiday lights at Falls Park and skiing/tubing at Great Bear Recreation Park.

What makes Sioux Falls distinct. In the 1890s Sioux Falls was nationally known as 'The Divorce Colony,' drawing East Coast socialites who exploited the state's short three-month residency rule to obtain divorces until the law tightened in 1908. The pink Sioux quartzite quarried locally built many landmark structures and was shipped by rail across the Midwest; by 1890 nearly 500 men worked the East Sioux Falls quarry. The city straddles two counties, Minnehaha and Lincoln, with most of it in Minnehaha. Its population grew nearly 90-fold, from about 2,164 in 1880 to roughly 192,500 in 2020.

Sioux Falls Landmarks and Local Life

• Falls Park - the namesake waterfall on the Big Sioux River, with a five-story observation tower and the Overlook Cafe
• The Arc of Dreams - a stainless-steel sculpture spanning the Big Sioux River downtown
• Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science.
• Great Plains Zoo & Delbridge Museum and Great Bear Recreation Park.