Codington County, South Dakota

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

County Seat: Watertown
Year Organized: 1877
Square Miles: 688

Court House:

14 First Avenue SE
County Courthouse
Watertown, SD 57201-3611

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Codington is named for a local circuit preacher named Reverend G.S. Codington.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Until February 1877, Codington County was a part of Hamlin County. The purpose for the dividing of the counties was to help some town site boomers to establish a county seat for Codington County near Lake Kampeska. The county was organized for municipal purposes in August 1878. Kampeska was the county seat. When election day came in November 1878, a full vote was polled, the principle issue being the county seat question. The Winona and St. Peter Railroad Company spared no opportunity to get settlers back from the east to vote for Watertown as the new county seat. Watertown won and has been the county seat since 1878.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 717 square miles (1,857 km²), of which, 688 square miles (1,781 km²) of it is land and 29 square miles (76 km²) of it (4.10%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Grant County, South Dakota - northeast
Deuel County, South Dakota - southeast
Hamlin County, South Dakota - south
Clark County, South Dakota - west
Day County, South Dakota - northwest

Cities and Towns:

- Dexter	township
- Elmira	township
- Florence	town	Incorporated Area
- Fuller	township
- Germantown	township
- Graceland	township
- Henry	town	Incorporated Area
- Kampeska	township
- Kranzburg	town	Incorporated Area
- Lake	township
- Pelican	township
- Phipps	township
- Rauville	township
- Sheridan	township
- South Shore	town	Incorporated Area
- Wallace	town	Incorporated Area
- Watertown (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Waverly	township

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."