SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) -- After a short countdown and a "clang" of iron on rock from the assembled pick axes, dignataries removed the first rail from the 10 acre rail yard on 8th Street.
It was the end of one era--the heyday of railroads--and the start of another--maybe tall buildings, maybe mixed use, maybe something no one has thought of yet.
That physical act may have been the easiest part of the nearly two decade journey to move the rail yard out of the heart of the city.
The 10 acre parcel now belongs to the City of Sioux Falls. Meanwhile, six developers are contending with ideas on how to revamp the area.
Mayor Mike Huether said the project to redevelop the area will be not just the biggest building project in the city's history.
"This rail yard redvelopment project will prove to be the most influential accomplishment in Sioux Falls history," Huether said at the "rail breaking" ceremony this morning just east of the 8th and Railroad Center.
A variety of well-known and not so well-known South Dakotans and Sioux Falls residents and others received credit for getting the project to this point, starting in 2001. Former U.S. Senator Tim Johnson was there, as were representatives from U.S. Senator John Thune's office and former U.S. Representative Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, who is now the president of Augustana University.
Huether had one group of people in mind for particular thanks.
"But also remember, the United States' taxpayers, they invested $35 million on this project," Huether said. "Let's not let them down either."
While most speeches were about the future, there was a look back at the importance of railroads and the rail yard to the development of Sioux Falls in the past.
City planning director Mike Cooper said there will be a building on the grounds that chronicles that history.
"It's important for those of you to remember what the beginning of the railroad industry meant to the beginning of Sioux Falls," Cooper said. "With the railroads, Sioux Falls became a regional hub for warehousing, for distrubtion, for ag commodities, and manufacturing.
Work is already underway to remove the crossings on 6th and 8th Streets. Developers will now vie for the right to make the Mayor's and others' visions to come true.
