Jones County, South Dakota

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

County Seat: Murdo
Year Organized: 1916
Square Miles: 971

Court House:

P.O. Box 307
County Courthouse
Murdo, SD 57559-0307

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Jones is named for Jones County, Iowa.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

As an unorganized county, Jones County was called Pratt. Lyman County, which was unorganized and heavily in debt, persuaded Presho and Pratt Counties to join. Almost immediately the fight to separate began. In 1907 the legislature passed a law describing how the counties should separate. The vote failed. In 1910 they voted again and lost and in 1916 they voted once again and the proposition carried. Murdo is the county seat.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 972 square miles (2,517 km²), of which, 971 square miles (2,514 km²) of it is land and 1 square miles (3 km²) of it (0.12%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Stanley County, South Dakota - north
Lyman County, South Dakota - east
Mellette County, South Dakota - south
Jackson County, South Dakota - southwest
Haakon County, South Dakota - northwest

Cities and Towns:

- Central Jones	UT
- Draper	town	Incorporated Area
- Dunkel	township
- Grandview	township
- Kolls	township
- Morgan	township
- Mullen	township
- Murdo (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Mussman	township
- North Jones	UT
- Okaton	township
- Rich Valley	UT
- Scovil	township
- South Creek	township
- Westover	UT
- Williams Creek	township
- Zickrick	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."