Like most areas around the area, Mitchell, South Dakota was also once an old Indian village, resided by Native American tribes. Some part of the city, right along the Firesteel Creek and James River, was the location of around 70 lodges that were the home of around hundreds of people. This is why authorities found fitting to preserve the area, making it into the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village.

The six-acre site of the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village was the result of the plans of preservation made by the group founded in the 70s. It features a museum with a reconstructed earthen lodge, an “atlatl” or an ancient spear-throwing tool, a walking path that brings visitors around the area where the villager’s homes used to stand on, and the Thomsen Center archeodome.