Hanson County, South Dakota

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

County Seat: Alexandria
Year Organized: 1873
Square Miles: 435

Court House:

PO Box 500
County Courthouse
Alexandria, SD 57311-0500

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Hanson was named for Joseph R. Hanson of Yankton

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

The county was formally organized in January 1871 and named for Major Hanson who had settled in the area in 1870. The county seat was temporarily located at Rockport. The town of Alexandria became the county seat in 1880.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 436 square miles (1,128 km²), of which, 435 square miles (1,126 km²) of it is land and 1 square miles (2 km²) of it (0.20%) is water

Neighboring Counties:

Miner County, South Dakota - north
McCook County, South Dakota - east
Hutchinson County, South Dakota - south
Davison County, South Dakota - west
Sanborn County, South Dakota - northwest

Cities and Towns:

- Alexandria (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Beulah	township
- Clayton	township
- Edgerton	township
- Emery	city	Incorporated Area
- Farmer	town	Incorporated Area
- Fulton	town	Incorporated Area
- Hanson	township
- Jasper	township
- Plano	township
- Pleasant	township
- Rosedale	township
- Spring Lake	township
- Taylor	township
- Wayne	township
- Worthen	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."