Lawrence County, South Dakota

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

County Seat: Deadwood
Year Organized: 1875
Square Miles: 800

Court House:

PO Box F
County Courthouse
Deadwood, SD 57732-0678

Etymology - Origin of County Name

The county was named for "Colonel" John Lawrence who came to the county as first treasurer in 1877. Lawrence had previously served in the Dakota Territorial Legislature, as a Seargent at Arms for the United States House of Representatives, and a US Marshall for the Dakota territory. After retirement he continued to act as county road supervisor and as an election judge. The title "Colonel" was honorary, bestowed by the governor of the Dakota Territory.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Governor Pennington appointed Commissioners in April 1877 to organize the county. Deadwood was made the county seat. The county was named in honor of Colonel John Lawrence, the county's first Treasurer. Colonel Lawrence had been a member of the territorial legislature, superintendent of the Sioux City and Fort Randall Wagon Road and a colonel on the staff of Governor Faulk.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 800 square miles (2,073 km²), of which, 800 square miles (2,072 km²) of it is land and 0 square miles (1 km²) of it (0.03%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Butte County, South Dakota - north
Meade County, South Dakota - east
Pennington County, South Dakota - south
Weston County, Wyoming - southwest
Crook County, Wyoming - west

Cities and Towns:

- Central City	city	Incorporated Area
- Deadwood (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Englewood	township
- Lead	city	Incorporated Area
- North Lawrence	UT
- South Lawrence	UT
- Spearfish	city	Incorporated Area
- St. Onge	township
- Whitewood	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."