Hughes County, South Dakota

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

County Seat: Pierre
Year Organized: 1880
Square Miles: 741

Court House:

104 E. Capitol Avenue
County Courthouse
Pierre, SD 57501-2567

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Hughes is named for territorial legislator Alexander Hughes.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Hughes County derived its name from the Honorable Alexander Hughes, one-time member of the territorial legislature. The county as organized by order of Governor Ordway and its official existence commenced on November 26, 1880 with a county commission meeting. Pierre, being the only town in the county, was designated as the county seat. The citizens of Pierre won for their city the permanent location of the state capital in a vote in 1890.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 800 square miles (2,073 km²), of which, 741 square miles (1,919 km²) of it is land and 59 square miles (154 km²) of it (7.42%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Sully County, South Dakota - north
Hyde County, South Dakota - east
Lyman County, South Dakota - south and southeast
Stanley County, South Dakota - south and west

Cities and Towns:

- Blunt	city	Incorporated Area
- Crow Creek	UT
- Harrold	town	Incorporated Area
- North Hughes	UT
- Pierre (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Raber	township
- Valley	township
- West Hughes	UT

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."