How Wall, South Dakota Got Its Name (It's the Badlands)

Name origin: Documented4 sourcesChecked Oct 26, 2026

Detail of a 1955 U.S. Geological Survey map with the town of Wall at the top edge, the railroad and U.S. 14 running past it, and Cottonwood Creek to the east — Wall sits right at the top edge of the U.S. Geological Survey's Hot Springs sheet, 1955, where the railroad and U.S. 14 cross the prairie. U.S. Geological Survey, Hot Springs sheet (1:250,000), 1955. Public domain.

Wall, South Dakota, is named for a natural wall of rock nearby, the long ridge of eroded cliffs that’s known today as the Badlands Wall. The name is about as plain as it gets: the town is next to a wall, so it’s called Wall.

Where the name comes from

A 1908 railroad guide to place names gives it in one line: Wall “was named from a natural wall or vertical uprise of rock near the town site.” The U.S. Geological Survey’s place-name record quotes the same book and adds that the town was platted in 1907 and incorporated in 1908.

The guide was written by an officer of the Chicago & North Western, and Wall was a stop on that railroad’s line across western South Dakota.

The wall itself

The National Park Service calls the Badlands Wall the main feature of the North Unit of Badlands National Park. As the White River cut down into the land, it left a long, steep ridge of eroded rock, and the Park Service says that ridge runs from near Kadoka to Wall. It also notes that a lot of towns around here are named for features of the Badlands. Wall is the most obvious one.

The drugstore that made the name famous

Most people know the name from a store, not a cliff. South Dakota Public Broadcasting tells the story: Ted and Dorothy Hustead bought the drugstore in Wall in 1931, and business was slow until 1936, when Dorothy came up with roadside signs offering free ice water to travelers. Wall Drug grew from there into a big roadside attraction, and it took the town’s name along with it.

Sources & further reading

W. H. Stennett, A History of the Origin of the Place Names Connected with the Chicago & North Western and Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railways (1908). A public-domain railroad guide. Says Wall was named for “a natural wall or vertical uprise of rock.”
GNIS feature 1262653 (U.S. Geological Survey). The federal record for Wall. Quotes the 1908 guide and gives 1907 for the platting and 1908 for incorporation.
National Park Service, “Badlands Wall.” What the wall is, where it runs, and how many local towns are named for Badlands features.
South Dakota Public Broadcasting, “History of Wall Drug.” The Husteads, 1931 and the free ice water signs.

Spot something wrong? Corrections are noted here with their date, never made silently.