Bon Homme County, South Dakota

Bon Homme County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Tyndall
Year Organized: 1862
Square Miles: 563

Court House:

300 West 18th Avenue
County Courthouse
Tyndall, SD 57066

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Bon Homme is named after Bon Homme Island in the Missouri River. Bon homme is French for good man.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

A French voyageur, exploring the Missouri River on an early expedition, was probably responsible for the naming of Bon Homme County. This name was first applied to a 2,000-acre island in the river. Bon Homme, a town that sprang up near by and took its name from the island, was the earliest settlement in the county. When the county was organized in 1862 by an act of the first territorial legislature, they named the county for the village, which was made the county seat. In 1885 Tyndall was named the county seat. An attempt to change the name of the county from "Bon Homme" to "Jefferson" in 1885 was not approved by Governor Edmunds.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 581 square miles (1,506 km²), of which, 563 square miles (1,459 km²) of it is land and 18 square miles (47 km²) of it (3.09%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Hutchinson County, South Dakota - north
Yankton County, South Dakota - east
Knox County, Nebraska - south
Charles Mix County, South Dakota - west

Cities and Towns:

- Avon	city	Incorporated Area
- Scotland	city	Incorporated Area
- Springfield	city	Incorporated Area
- Tabor	town	Incorporated Area
- Tyndall (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this 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."