East Sioux Falls built its hopes on quartzite stone, a resource that brought people, money, and prestige as the region’s stone industry expanded from the late 1850s through the late 1880s. Originally known locally as Ives, the area east of Sioux Falls near the Iverson Farm became a boomtown centered on quarrying and stone construction. In 1887, local entrepreneur C.W. Hubbard and his business partner James E. Riley founded the Sioux Falls Granite Company here, despite doubts that the effort was premature because rail service had not yet reached the area. Their first major contract called for 1,000 carloads of stone paving blocks for Chicago streets, and the company went on to supply stone for buildings and streets in Omaha, Kansas City, Joliet, Chicago, and Detroit. In 1888, 30,000 stone paving blocks were shipped each day into downtown Sioux Falls to pave part of Phillips Avenue, and East Sioux Falls pavers helped supply part of the 62,000,000 paving blocks produced nationwide in 1889. The thriving quarries drew a skilled immigrant workforce from Wales, England, Scotland, and Scandinavia, whose customs influenced local life, including caroling, while cricket, soccer, and prizefighting also became popular. By 1890, the company town had 577 residents and voted unanimously to incorporate as East Sioux Falls; it had a church, hotel, Illinois Central railroad station, grain elevator, lumberyard, and sizeable town hall. Prosperity faded quickly in the 1890s: a 1891 contract worth $100,000 to supply paving stone to Chicago collapsed, the company declined, and by 1892 its property was sold at auction. The Panic of 1893 further shut down building activity and quarry work, South Dakota’s stone value fell by more than $300,000, quarrymen left, and the boom ended. Hubbard departed after helping build the Federal Building in Sioux Falls, and George Perry bought the quarry hoping to revive East Sioux Falls when the economy improved.