🧱 Sandstar aka Hot Springs Feed & Transfer

Address:  108 North Chicago Street, Hot Springs, SD

Built:  1920

First Occupant:  Exchange Transfer, Feed & Fuel Company

Later Uses:  Automotive garage, retail storefronts

Current Occupants (2025):  Marty & Elsa Meyer, Frog Projects, LLC

Sandstone Quarry:  Salvaged from the Plaza Hotel (exact original quarry under investigation)

Architect:  Unknown

Contractor:  Unknown

Architectural Style:  Early 20th-century commercial sandstone with industrial detailing

📜 Historical Overview

The Hot Springs Feed and Transfer Building — now known as Sandstar — was built in early 1920 by the Exchange Transfer, Feed & Fuel Company after a fire destroyed their earlier facility during the winter of 1919.

Local historian Helen Magee recorded that its sandstone came from the recently demolished Plaza Hotel, making this one of the few documented examples of architectural stone reuse in Hot Springs.

The Plaza Hotel itself had an eventful history — originally constructed as the Fargo–Dickover Block circa 1891, it was remodeled into a hotel in 1917, only to be destroyed by fire in 1919. Its salvaged stone, already decades old, was repurposed here, giving the material a second life.

Initially serving as a feed and transfer operation, the building later became an automotive garage, adapting to changing needs while retaining its original footprint and durable sandstone shell. Around 1979, the removal of a later mansard roof revealed the capitals of its four large pilasters — two at the corners and two framing the central entrance.

🏛 Architectural Notes

• Rough-cut sandstone blocks in the main façade
• Pressed tin cornice above a double row of dentils
• Bronze-trimmed glazing bars on the two front display windows
• Large sandstone foundation blocks, consistent with structural stone reused from the Plaza Hotel

The exact quarry source of the Plaza Hotel’s sandstone is still under investigation, but its appearance matches stone from canyon and hillside quarries near Hot Springs.

📍 Later Uses & Current Status

• 1920–1930s: Feed and transfer facility
• 1930s–1970s: Automotive garage
• 1979: Mansard roof removed, revealing original pilaster capitals
• 1980s–Present: Retail storefronts under the name Sandstar

Today, the building houses modern businesses while preserving its robust sandstone character.

🔍 Research Notes & Requests

Save Our Sandstone is still seeking:

• Builder or stonemason for the 1920 reconstruction
• Verified quarry source of the Plaza Hotel’s sandstone
• Photographs or plans of the pre-fire Exchange Transfer building
• Historic images from the garage era (1920s–1960s)

QR Code Info:  Built in 1920 after fire destroyed the earlier facility, this sandstone building was constructed with salvaged stone from the burned Plaza Hotel, giving its material a second life. Known first as the Exchange Transfer, Feed & Fuel Company, it later served as an automotive garage for decades. Today called Sandstar, its rough-cut stone, pilasters, and pressed-tin cornice continue to showcase Hot Springs’ tradition of resilience and reuse.