The Museum of Visual Materials... it's unlike anything you'd expect!

What to Expect

You can learn about the amazing history of the museum and everything it has to offer. The Museum houses over 4,500 books, 1000's of vinyl records and 8-track tapes, yards and yards of fabrics, over 80,000 sewing buttons, all types of arts and crafts, and a marvelous kitchen.

The Museum of Visual Materials is the one of the oldest building in Downtown Sioux Falls, South Dakota(1887). The building was originally the home or the Consolidated Tank Company. It serves as an industrial example of a Richardsonian Romanesque style structure. The original building is constructed from a rough-faced pinkish-purple variety of Sioux quartzite. The brick addition was constructed along the eastern half of the north facade. It is stylistically similar to the nearby Standard Oil Company Garage. This building foreshadowed the mixed uses that would develop in the northern portion of what is now downtown during the late nineteenth century. The area's close proximity to a railroad and its distance from the center of Sioux Falls make this corner an ideal area for wholesale and warehouse activities. For these reasons, the Consolidated Tank Line Company, the earliest wholesale gasoline and oil dealer in Sioux Falls, located at this site. This was the company's original building and it was designed to contain both office and warehouse spaces. In 1896 Consolidated Tank Line was succeeded by the Standard Oil Company. Standard Oil used the building as its primary warehouse and storage depot until 1945 when the company outgrew the facility and moved to a new site located at 41st and Grange. Midland Distributing Company, a wholesale liquor establishment that distributed Seagram products, moved into the building in 1947 and remained in the building into the 1980's. Since the 1980's, the building has been used mostly for warehouse and storage purposes. Most recently, Rose Faithe purchased the building and has rehabbed the structure into a museum that will hold a collection of treasures gathered from a lifetime of family travels.

The MoVM will be offering classes and demonstrations on different cooking, art, sculpture, photography, sewing and knitting classes. We aren't asking for just people who currently have experience in these crafts but people who want to learn about these hobbies. Check out our upcoming events to see what classes you would like to be apart of. Our Hall of the Americas displays local artists work and a large part of our collection. The Hall of Continents will take you to all parts of the world with the collection of books and displays. Kids get the opportunity to play and have fun with all of the displays provided. Listen to all the great music and relax. The MoVM is a great location for people to chat with friends, have a get together, and have free access to our Wi-Fi.