Box Elder
Box Elder is about 7 miles east of Rapid City on Interstate 90. It has a population of about 4,000 but has experienced a fair amount of growth in the past several years.
Named for Boxelder Creek, this is ranching country with a lot of land (6 miles long, 4 miles wide) under municipal jurisdiction. City officials would like to see orderly future growth with all of this space and feel Box Elder offers the best of both worlds for families and businesses without compromising its agricultural base.
Settlers came to the lower Box Elder region as early as 1876, though many were forced to flee from American Indian attacks before the relinquishment of the Hills in 1877.
In addition to serving as a bedroom community for Ellsworth Air Force Base, many of the community’s businesses are service-oriented.
Ellsworth Air Force Base
Ellsworth Air Force Base, 10 miles east of Rapid City, is one of two bases for B-1B Lancer long-range bombers. (The other is Dyess AFB, Texas.)
About 3,700 Air Force personnel and more than 1,000 civilians work at the base, making it one of the largest employers in South Dakota. In 2005, however, the Pentagon recommended closing Ellsworth.
But community and state leaders launched a successful campaign to persuade the independent, civilian base-closing commission to reverse that ruling. Now Ellsworth is preparing to welcome a new Air Force finance center, which will add 700 jobs to the base.
The total economic impact to the Black Hills area in fiscal 2005, according to the state Department of Labor, was about $324 million.
The 5,400-acre base has a heavy-duty runway that’s 13,500 feet long and 300 feet wide. The total value of base assets is almost $9 billion, and its bombers are worth about $8 billion.
The 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth has more than two dozen B-1Bs. The wing consists of two bomb squadrons — the 34th and the 37th — and four groups, other units and organizations.
Ellsworth personnel and bombers flew missions over Kosovo and in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, B-1s flew just 1 percent of the total missions but delivered 22 percent of all guided bombs — more than 2,282 tons.
The B-1 can carry 24 2,000-pound bombs, more than any other bomber, and each bomb can be targeted to a different location. B-1s refueled in the air can stay aloft over combat zones almost indefinitely.
The base is also next to the South Dakota Air and Space Museum, located just outside the main gate.
County zoning ordinance: yes