Native Sun News Today: City changes name of ‘Soo’ road

Soo San Drive in Rapid City, South Dakota, has been renamed to Sioux San Drive. Photo by Native Sun News Today

Soo San Drive renamed

Councilman Bill Evans dissents

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

By Travis Dewes

Native Sun News Today Staff Writer

RAPID CITY, South Dakota — Soo San Drive, a road in West Rapid City which was previously associated with the Rapid City Indian Boarding School, has been renamed to Sioux San Drive by the Rapid City Council in a 9-1 vote. The issue was met with little discussion and the only dissenting vote was from Councilman Bill Evans.

In a comment submitted to the Rapid City Council before the session, Councilman Ritchie Nordstrom provided a synopsis of the history of Soo San Drive and claimed that the original legal name for the road was Sioux Sanatorium Drive.

“In the official land deeds from the United States government gifting the lands to various recipients, the road is always called “Sioux Sanatorium Drive” in the official legal description,” his comments read.

“A review of the original documents would lead one to believe that “Sioux Sanatorium Drive” was the official name of the road, and ‘Soo San’ was a short hand used by the plat map makers that became adopted by the City over time,” he said.

Councilman Evans provided the only verbal comments about the resolution during the meeting.

“For me, to actually rename something from one name into another that is derogatory doesn’t necessarily make any sense,” Evans said while reference the term “Sioux” which is a derivation of an Ojibwe term meaning “little snakes.”