City Receives Grant to Revitalize The Quarry

Published on July 07, 2026

The City of Sioux Falls and the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation announced today that Sioux Falls will receive $15 million to revitalize the quarry property adjacent to Falls Park as part of the Bezos Earth Fund’s Greening America’s Cities initiative.

The Bezos Earth Fund is a global organization that invests in projects that help protect and restore the natural world. Sioux Falls is one of eight communities chosen in the organization's second round of funding for the Greening America’s Cities initiative. The funding in this second round, which is $100 million, will be dedicated to community-designed parks, large-scale green space and immersive outdoor areas across the country. Other cities selected to receive funding include Allentown, Pa.; Atlanta; Cleveland; Indianapolis; Little Rock, Ark.; Los Angeles; and Salt Lake City.

“We are incredibly grateful for the Bezos Earth Fund’s confidence in our community and existing parks and recreation system to make this substantial investment,” Mayor Paul TenHaken said. “The quarry in Falls Park is a blank canvas ready to be revitalized and activated in meaningful ways. This project simply would not happen without their investment. We look forward to collaborating once again with the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation, whose partnership is essential to bringing this transformative project to life.”

The city’s quarry property, located east of Falls Park across North Weber Avenue, is a former industrial site that has sat untouched for decades. The funding will be used to transform the quarry into “The Quarry at The Falls,” a nature-filled destination where residents can explore trails, access the water’s edge, gather in flexible open spaces and reconnect with the outdoors. While a significant portion of funding will go toward construction costs, a portion will be dedicated to public engagement and design, ensuring the community has input on the quarry’s revitalization.

“Community input and engagement is a high priority for the Bezos Earth Fund and our team, and we are grateful to see dedicated funding within the project for that critical first step,” said Brett Kollars, assistant director of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department. “We are excited to work with the Whittier neighborhood, downtown and the community at-large to transform this space together.”

Revitalization of the quarry property is an identified priority within the Falls Park Master Plan. The plan was developed over several years through extensive community input and engagement and approved by the Sioux Falls City Council in early February. The overarching master plan goal is to transform Falls Park into a year-round signature park that serves as a community gathering place and destination for the entire city by highlighting the uniqueness of its Sioux Quartzite and the Big Sioux River, preserving and interpreting its history and capitalizing on the growth and energy of downtown to expand it to all aspects of Falls Park.

The City of Sioux Falls and the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation have a strong history of working together to bring private investment to parks projects.

“We are proud to serve as a partner for the Bezos Earth Fund grant to reimagine the quarry,” said Andy Patterson, CEO for the Community Foundation. “This grant will revitalize an underused area of our downtown and provide recreation opportunities for visitors and our core neighborhoods.”

Since 2018, more than $90 million in outside funding and partnerships have helped improve city parks and recreation opportunities in Sioux Falls.

Following the announcement, an agreement for the site between the city and Community Foundation will be considered by the Sioux Falls Parks Board, and if approved, will then be considered by city council. A public launch event for the project and its community engagement phase will be held this fall, in partnership with the Bezos Earth Fund.

The quarry holds historical significance in our city. It originated in the 1880s after Congress appropriated funding to build a prison in Sioux Falls to serve the Dakota Territory. Stone from the quarry was first used for buildings on the prison compound, including the wall that surrounds the state penitentiary’s yard. Later, stone from the quarry, and others in the area, was used to build several downtown landmarks, including the Old Courthouse Museum, Jones Seed Co. Warehouse, Tri-State Creamery Building, Milwaukee Railroad Freight Depot, the Federal Building, Washington High School, now the Washington Pavilion, and the annex north of the Minnehaha County Courthouse. By the mid-20th century, the quarry and area around Falls Park had fallen into disrepair and remained that way until the '90s when the city began acquiring land near Falls Park for eventual revitalization. In 2004, the city opened the “Phillips to the Falls” project that connected the dead-end Phillips Avenue to Falls Park Drive and served as the catalyst for the park’s ongoing transformation enjoyed today.

For more information, visit explorethefalls.org/thequarry.