View source for Sol Star

{{short description|American politician}}

{{Infobox officeholder
| name            = Sol Star
| image           = Sol Star.gif
| state_senate    = South Dakota
| district        = [[Lawrence County, South Dakota|31st]]
| term_start      = 1890
| term_end        = 1894
| state_house1    = South Dakota
| district1       = [[Lawrence County, South Dakota|31st]]
| term_start1     = 1888
| term_end1       = 1890
| office2         = [[Mayor]] of [[Deadwood, South Dakota]]
| term_start2     = 1884
| term_end2       = 1898
| birth_date      = {{Birth date|1840|12|20}} 
| birth_place     = [[Kingdom of Bavaria|Bavaria]], [[German Confederation]]<ref name="McGrath1901">{{cite book|last=McGrath|first=Hugh J.|title=History of the Great Northwest and Its Men of Progress: A Select List of Biographical Sketches and Portraits of the Leaders in Business, Professional and Official Life|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofgreatno00hyde|year=1901|publisher=Minneapolis Journal|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofgreatno00hyde/page/218 218]}}</ref>
| death_date      = {{Death date and age|1917|10|10|1840|12|20}}
| death_place     = [[Deadwood, South Dakota]], U.S.
| nationality     = [[German nationality law|German]]-[[United States nationality law|American]]
| party           = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
}}

'''Solomon Star''' (December 20, 1840 &ndash; October 10, 1917) was a [[American Jews|Jewish American]] businessman and politician notable as an early resident of the town of [[Deadwood, South Dakota]].

==Life and career==
Star was born in Bavaria, [[German Confederation|Germany]], to [[Jews|Jewish]] parents. When he was 10 years of age, his family moved to [[Chillicothe, Ohio]]. He later moved to [[Helena, Montana]], where he served as territorial auditor and personal secretary to the governor. He partnered with [[Seth Bullock]] in a [[hardware store]]; in August 1876, attracted to Deadwood by the promise of a great deal of business stemming from the [[gold rush]], they purchased a lot there from [[Al Swearengen]] and Henry Beaman and opened the Office of Star and Bullock, Auctioneers and Commission Merchants. They later partnered in [[livestock]] [[ranching]] as the S&B Ranch Company, and with Harris Franklin in the Deadwood Flouring Mill, in 1880, where Star was the general manager. The duo expanded their business interests to the towns of [[Spearfish, South Dakota|Spearfish]], [[Sturgis, South Dakota|Sturgis]], and [[Custer, South Dakota|Custer]].<ref name="Dary2007">{{cite book|last=Dary|first=David|title=True Tales of the Prairies and Plains|year=2007|publisher=University Press of Kansas|isbn=978-0-7006-1518-6|pages=117–120|chapter=Who was Seth Bullock?}}</ref>

Bullock and Star contributed further to the economic development of the region by convincing the [[Fremont, Elkhorn, and Missouri Valley Railroad]] to build a track, by offering them 40 acres (162,000 m<sup>2</sup>) of free right-of-way across their land when a speculator purchased the right of way to Minnesela and demanded a high price from the railroad. The railroad built a station three miles northwest of [[Minnesela, South Dakota]], in 1890, and Bullock and Star were instrumental in founding the town of [[Belle Fourche]] there,<ref name="WilmsBuchholz2008">{{cite book|last1=Wilms|first1=Jordan|last2=Buchholz|first2=Mary|title=Belle Fourche|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ULpPo2zAboC&pg=PA58|year=2008|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-0-7385-6152-3|pages=58–59}}</ref> offering free lots to anyone moving from Minnesela. Belle Fourche became the largest railhead for [[livestock]] in the United States and stole the [[county seat]] away from a declining Minnesela.<ref name="Dary2007"/>

Bullock and Star's hardware store in Deadwood burned down in 1894. Rather than rebuild, they built Deadwood's first hotel on the site, a three-story, 64-room luxury hotel with steam heat and indoor bathrooms on each floor, at a cost of $40,000. The [[Bullock Hotel]] continues to operate to this day, now incorporating a 24-hour [[casino]].<ref name="ShadleyWennes2012">{{cite book|last1=Shadley|first1=Mark|last2=Wennes|first2=Josh|title=Haunted Deadwood: A True Wild West Ghost Town|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zpB2CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT60|date=4 September 2012|publisher=Arcadia Publishing Incorporated|isbn=978-1-61423-675-7|pages=60–63|chapter=The Bullock Hotel}}</ref>

Star was elected to the first [[town council]] in 1876, became town [[postmaster]] in 1877, was elected [[mayor]] in 1884, and served ten terms for a total of 14 years.<ref name="Bennett1982">{{cite book|last=Bennett|first=Estelline|title=Old Deadwood Days|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l6AFj11QrasC&pg=PA158|date=1 March 1982|publisher=U of Nebraska Press|isbn=0-8032-6065-2|page=158}}</ref><ref name="Ames2004">{{cite book|last=Ames|first=John Edward|title=The Real Deadwood: True Life Histories of Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, Outlaw Towns, and Other Characters of the Lawless West|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=75XU5-5vyxcC&pg=PA114|year=2004|publisher=Chamberlain Bros.|isbn=978-1-59609-031-6|pages=114–115}}</ref> He later served as a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] legislator after statehood in the [[South Dakota House of Representatives]] in 1889–1890 and in the [[South Dakota State Senate]] in 1893–1894 serving as President Pro Tempore of the South Dakota Senate,<ref>[http://legis.state.sd.us/historical/LegislatorDetail.aspx?MemberID=120 South Dakota Legislature-Historical Listing-Legislator Information]</ref> and as [[Lawrence County, South Dakota|Lawrence County]] [[Clerk of Courts]] for 20 years, until his death. He was never married.<ref name="Ames2004"/>

After a reportedly lavish funeral in Deadwood, Star was not buried in Mount Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood. Instead, his family had his body transported to St. Louis, Missouri, where he was laid to rest in New Mount Sinai Cemetery.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.newmtsinaicemetery.org/registry?filter%5Btext%5D=Sol+star&011b3aaf884fb91556886c6076a0e192=1 | title=Burial Records &#124; New Mt. Sinai Cemetery }}</ref>

==In popular culture==
Star was portrayed by [[John Hawkes (actor)|John Hawkes]] in the television series ''[[Deadwood (TV series)|Deadwood]]'' (2004–2006).<ref name="Brode2010">{{cite book|last=Brode|first=Douglas|title=Shooting Stars of the Small Screen: Encyclopedia of TV Western Actors, 1946–Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o8uLbvRWBSAC&pg=PA165|date=1 January 2010|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=978-0-292-78331-7|page=165}}</ref> The show's producers switched the character's birthplace to [[Vienna]] instead of [[Bavaria]].<ref name="Lavery2006">{{cite book|last=Lavery|first=David|title=Reading Deadwood: A Western to Swear By|date=19 September 2006|publisher=I. B. Tauris|isbn=978-1-84511-221-9|page=205}}</ref> Hawkes reprised his role in the television film ''[[Deadwood: The Movie]]'' (2019), set a decade after the events of  season 3.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Sepinwall |first1=Alan |author-link=Alan Sepinwall|title=Everything You Need to Know About 'Deadwood: The Movie' |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-features/deadwood-movie-primer-sepinwall-835949/ |access-date=26 May 2019 |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |date=24 May 2019}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Find a Grave|24442503}}
*{{Cite web|url=http://www.deadwood.searchroots.com/star.htm|title=Biography of Solomon "Sol" Star|access-date=2010-09-17}}
{{Black Hills, South Dakota}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Star, Sol}}
[[Category:1840 births]]
[[Category:1917 deaths]]
[[Category:American people of German-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Black Hills]]
[[Category:Bavarian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Jewish American mayors]]
[[Category:Mayors of places in South Dakota]]
[[Category:Republican Party members of the South Dakota House of Representatives]]
[[Category:People from Deadwood, South Dakota]]
[[Category:People of the American Old West]]
[[Category:South Dakota city council members]]
[[Category:Republican Party South Dakota state senators]]
[[Category:Jewish American people in South Dakota politics]]
[[Category:People from Dakota Territory]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the South Dakota Legislature]]