Haakon County, South Dakota

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

County Seat: Philip
Year Organized: 1914
Square Miles: 1,813

Court House:

PO Box 698
County Courthouse
Philip, SD 57567-0698

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Haakon is named for Haakon VII of Norway.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Haakon County, organized in 1915, was named for Haakon VII of Norway because of a large number of Scandinavian settlers. Prior to 1914, the area now known as Haakon County formed a part of Stanley County. Because of the enormous size of the county and the great distances to travel, the electors submitted a request to the voters to divide Stanley County. The result of the election was to divide Stanley County into three parts, one to remain as Stanley County with Fort Pierre as the county seat; one to be called Jackson County with Kadoka as the county seat; and Haakon County with Philip as the temporary county seat. The battle between towns for the location of the county seat developed into a lively, although one-sided race. Philip was selected by a large majority at a general election in March 1916.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,827 square miles (4,732 km²), of which, 1,813 square miles (4,696 km²) of it is land and 14 square miles (37 km²) of it (0.78%) is water.

The county was created in 1914 and organized in 1915, and is named for Haakon VII, who became king of Norway in 1905. It is the only county in South Dakota named for a non-American person and is one of only nine counties in South Dakota named for persons who did not live in South Dakota (Clay, Custer, Douglas, Grant, Hamlin, Lincoln, McPherson, and Meade are the other eight). Most of the 66 South Dakota counties are named for early South Dakota officials or legislators, or for physical features (Fall River and Lake), or are derived from Indian words (Minnehaha and Yankton), or from counties in other states (Jones and Walworth), with one (Aurora) named for a Roman goddess, one for an animal (Buffalo), and one (Union) for a concept.

Neighboring Counties:

Ziebach County, South Dakota - north
Stanley County, South Dakota - east
Jones County, South Dakota - southeast
Jackson County, South Dakota - south
Pennington County, South Dakota - west

Cities and Towns:

- Midland	town	Incorporated Area
- Philip (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."