Pullaquote: "The whole state is reaping the benefits."

Flames emblazoned the winter night sky as firemen fought to prevent another historic building from going up in smoke.

But they lost that fight too. Like so many other old downtown buildings, the 1887 brick and sandstone Syndicate Building on Deadwood’s Main Street became ashes and rubble.

The town didn’t have the water supply to win that December 1987 battle, Dave Larson recalled. "If it hadn’t been a still night, we’d have lost the whole block," he said.

But this time the town fought back. They utilized a video of the dramatic conflagration to sell South Dakota voters on a last-ditch effort to save Deadwood’s century-old buildings, through low-stakes gambling linked to historic preservation.

It was a convincing argument. On November 8, 1988, the conservative South Dakota electorate approved a constitutional amendment paving the way for gambling to kick off in Deadwood a year later, on November 1, 1989.

The town wasted little time in keeping faith with the people of South Dakota.

By mid-1992 a $4 million street project had replaced inadequate underground utilities beneath new streets paved with replicated bricks like the ones originally laid in 1907. The new fire hall on upper Main Street was in service and a new reservoir gave volunteer firefighters enough water to save the city from future conflagrations. City hall had moved into the renovated Fish & Hunter fruit warehouse.

Work was well underway on restoring the old fire hall to its original appearance as the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad depot---now a History and Information Center that sees close to a 100,000 visitors each year.

One of the nation’s most ambitious historic preservation projects is a success story written by the small Black Hills town---a success story described as "a miracle" by preservation officials. The community that appeared to be on its death bed a dozen years ago has been restored to vigorous health with proceeds from low-stakes gambling ($5 bet limit; 30 machines per building). More than $80 million in public and private money generated by gaming has been invested in Deadwood’s restoration and preservation.

Cradled in a long, narrow gulch surrounded by pine-covered mountains, Deadwood draws on its rich history as a 123-year-old gold rush mining camp to attract nearly 2 million visitors each year---visitors who describe a feeling of being transported back a century in time.

Period street lights illuminate a totally renovated historic Main Street. Gamblers ride rubber-wheeled green trolleys from new parking lots and hotels, to place bets in casinos housed in turn-of-the-century buildings --- buildings that have been painstakingly restored top-to-bottom, from shored-up foundations to new roofs, fresh paint and polished brass.

A parking problem in the narrow gulch has been addressed. The Broadway parking ramp behind Main Street opened last winter. Free parking is available at lots on lower Main and upper Sherman streets; metered parking at the Visitor Information Center, the Miller Street and Whitewood Creek lots, as well as on Sherman Street and side streets.

Saved from the wrecking ball by a $6 million commitment from taxpayers, the 1908 Lawrence County Courthouse has been magnificently restored, revealing original murals painted on the ceiling of the central dome and in the third-floor courthouse.

Historic preservation funding enabled the 1905 Carnegie Public Library to complete structural, mechanical and electrical work, as well as index old newspapers, beginning with the original local paper that was first published in 1876.

The long-closed 1912 Deadwood Recreation Center and indoor swimming pool have been restored and the family home of prominent Deadwood businessman W. E. Adams, a Queen Anne mansion built in 1892, is scheduled to re-open next summer as a house museum.

Restoration funding has financed improvements at the Adams Museum, the Days of ’76 Museum and rodeo grounds, churches, schools, and clubs and organizations.

But gaming has benefited more than just the town of Deadwood. Out of the 8% gaming tax, 40% goes to the state and is dedicated to tourism promotion; $100,000 is given annually to state-wide historic preservation projects and 10% goes to Lawrence County. After administrative costs are paid by the South Dakota Commission on Gaming, the remainder, along with other gaming revenue (such as licensing and fines) goes to the Deadwood Historic Preservation Fund.

Two programs established by the Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission funnel proceeds into community historic preservation through a grant assistance program and a revolving loan program.

Annual grants are awarded for activities that preserve, restore, improve or otherwise enhance historic buildings, structures, landscapes or sites, and for projects aimed at historical research and interpretation, heritage tourism or other programs reflecting the cultural heritage of the community.

Through the revolving loan program the commercial and private sector can borrow money for historic building restoration and/or safety code improvements.

Deadwood’s first historic preservation officer, Mark Wolfe, said that doubts about the co-existence of gaming and preservation were resolved as the public saw what was accomplished within the first years.

By 1992 the National Trust for Historic Places had removed Deadwood from a list of 11 most endangered historic sites in America and the Historic South Dakota Foundation named the Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission Preservationist of the Year.

Wolfe pointed out that many people benefit from Deadwood’s marriage of gaming and preservation:

Not just city officials or business owners, but anyone who swims in the pool at the Rec Center, drives down a lighted street at night, turns on a water faucet, walks through the library, goes to a rodeo or parks a car. Without gaming these projects would not have been possible.

Linda Mickelson, widow of the late Governor Mickelson, said Deadwood is a "prime example of a grassroots community effort that his really succeeded."

People said it was a long shot, but it’s working exactly the way the Deadwood folks said it would. Deadwood really did keep its promise to the people of South Dakota, and the whole state is reaping the benefits.