Hamlin County, South Dakota

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

County Seat: Hayti
Year Organized: 1873
Square Miles: 511

Court House:

P.O. Box 237
County Courthouse
Hayti, SD 57241-0237

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Hamlin is named for Hannibal Hamlin, Abraham Lincoln's first Vice President.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Hamlin County was created in 1872 and organized in 1878. It was named for Hannibel Hamlin, Vice-President under Abraham Lincoln. The county seat was located at the Spalding ranch. Following an election in November of 1878 the county seat was located at Spalding. There were four contests for county seat honors, the first occurring in 1884 when the seat was moved from Estelline to Castlewood; the second in 1890 when Bryant made an attempt; the third in 1910, when Hayti made its first bid. Although Hayti was victorious, the contest was taken to court and Castlewood was declared the winner. Four years later Hayti tried again and was successful.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 538 square miles (1,393 km²), of which, 507 square miles (1,313 km²) of it is land and 31 square miles (81 km²) of it (5.78%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Codington County, South Dakota - north
Deuel County, South Dakota - east
Brookings County, South Dakota - southeast
Kingsbury County, South Dakota - southwest
Clark County, South Dakota - west

Cities and Towns:

- Brantford	township
- Bryant	city	Incorporated Area
- Castlewood	city	Incorporated Area
- Cleveland	township
- Dempster	township
- Estelline	city	Incorporated Area
- Garfield	township
- Hamlin	township
- Hayti (County Seat)	town	Incorporated Area
- Hazel	town	Incorporated Area
- Lake Norden	city	Incorporated Area
- Norden	township
- Opdahl	township
- Oxford	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."