Gregory County, South Dakota

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

County Seat: Burke
Year Organized: 1862
Square Miles: 1,016

Court House:

PO Box 437
County Courthouse
Burke, SD 57523-0437

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Gregory is named for C.H. Gregory, an officer stationed at Fort Randall.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Gregory County as named for C. H. Gregory, an officer in the U.S. Army stationed at Ft. Randall. A rivalry for county seat honors sprang up between Fairfax and Bonesteel, which for several years was the source of considerable controversy. In 1898, the county was organized by order of Governor Lee. Fairfax received a majority of votes in an August 1898 election and was declared the county seat. As early as 1906 an effort was made to move the county seat farther west, but efforts failed. In 1916 the matter was again brought up and after one of the bitterest fights in the county's history the seat was moved to Burke.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,053 square miles (2,728 km²), of which, 1,016 square miles (2,631 km²) of it is land and 38 square miles (97 km²) of it (3.56%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Lyman County, South Dakota - north
Charles Mix County, South Dakota - east
Boyd County, Nebraska - south
Keya Paha County, Nebraska - southwest
Tripp County, South Dakota - west

Cities and Towns:

- Bonesteel	city	Incorporated Area
- Burke (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Carlock	township
- Dallas	town	Incorporated Area
- Dickens	township
- Dixon	township
- East Gregory	UT
- Edens	township
- Ellston	township
- Fairfax	town	Incorporated Area
- Gregory	city	Incorporated Area
- Herrick	town	Incorporated Area
- Jones	township
- Landing Creek	township
- North Gregory	UT
- Pleasant Valley	township
- Schriever	township
- Southeast Gregory	UT
- Spring Valley	UT
- Star Valley	township
- Whetstone	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."