Rick Hustead

Quick Facts

Significance:

South Dakota Businessman

Place of Birth:

Sioux City, Iowa

Date of Birth:

May 17, 1950

Born in Sioux City, Iowa May 17, 1950, Rick Hustead moved to Wall, South Dakota in 1951. He has lived nearly all of his life in the small town of Wall. He is the grandson of Ted and Dorothy Hustead, founders of the world famous Wall Drug. Rick, along with other family members, is a co-owner of the drug store. At the time of his interview, Rick was the chairman of the company and also managed the restaurant part of Wall Drug. During Rick’s lifetime he saw the construction, operation and deactivation of the Minuteman Missile field in the area.

Mr. Hustead was interviewed for the park's oral history collection in August 2005 and in Fenruary 2015. Below is an excerpt from his 2005 interview about a secret within Wall drug:

HUSTEAD: We had a bomb shelter fall out shelter in the drug store.
INTERVIEWER: Here in Wall?
HUSTEAD: Yes, and my grandpa built it.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, and that grandpa is?

HUSTEAD: Ted Hustead.
INTERVIEWER: Ted Hustead, so you have a fall out shelter?
HUSTEAD: In the drug store.
INTERVIEWER: And it would hold how many people?
HUSTEAD: You know, ten. I mean with supplies and a ventilation system you crank by hand and…Yeah, I was very aware of the Cold War.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, can you tell me a little bit more about the shelter or the supplies that were stocked there?
HUSTEAD: Well there was a locked cabinet and then there was food, water, medicine, flashlights, batteries, things that you probably would need in the event of a nuclear attack.
INTERVIEWER: Um-hm, um-hm. And did grandfather and your father talk to you about this possibility or?
HUSTEAD: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, and showed you the bomb shelter, you knew how to use it and what was down there?
HUSTEAD: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, and the whole family was aware of that then?
HUSTEAD: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: And is it still available in the…
HUSTEAD: [Begins to speak over previous speaker.] Well, I’m sure it’s like a lot of shelters like that. We no longer stock it, there’s no longer supplies but ventilation shaft is still there.