Aurora County, South Dakota

Aurora County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Plankinton
Year Organized: 1881
Square Miles: 708

Court House:

PO Box 397
County Courthouse
Plankinton, SD 57368-0397

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Aurora is named for Aurora, Greco-Roman goddess of the dawn. Aurora is the Latin word for dawn, the goddess of dawn in Roman mythology and Latin poetry. Aurora is comparable to the Greek goddess Eos, though Aurora did not bring with her any resonance of a greater archaic goddess.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Aurora County was named for Aurora, the Roman goddess of the dawn. The county was created by an act of the legislature on February 22, 1879 from Cragin and Wetmore counties and organized by the appointment of three Commissioners in 1881. The first meeting was held on August 29, 1881 at which time Plankinton was made the county seat. This action was ratified by a vote of the people at the general election in November 1882. The county seat is Plankinton.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 713 square miles (1,845 km²), of which, 708 square miles (1,834 km²) of it is land and 4 square miles (11 km²) of it (0.61%) is water.

Aurora Couinty is located in the southeastern part of the state

Neighboring Counties:

Jerauld County, South Dakota - north
Sanborn County, South Dakota - northeast
Davison County, South Dakota - east
Douglas County, South Dakota - south
Charles Mix County, South Dakota - southwest
Brule County, South Dakota - west

Cities and Towns:

- Belford	township
- Crystal Lake	township
- Dudley	township
- Gales	township
- Hopper	township
- Lake	township
- Palatine	township
- Patten	township
- Plankinton (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Pleasant Lake	township
- Pleasant Valley	township
- Stickney	town	Incorporated Area
- Truro	township
- Washington	township
- White Lake	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

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