Meade County, South Dakota

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

County Seat: Sturgis
Year Organized: 1889
Square Miles: 3,471

Court House:

1425 Sherman Street
County Courthouse
Sturgis, SD 57785-1454

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Meade is named for American Civil War general George Meade.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Meade County, created in 1889, organized in 1889, was named for Fort Meade, which was garrisoned as a U.S. military post in 1878. The Fort was named General George Meade, Union Commander of the Battle of Gettysburg. Meade County is the largest county in South Dakota and has a land area of well over 2 million acres. It is larger than the combined areas of Delaware and Rhode Island. The county seat is located at Sturgis.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 3,482 square miles (9,020 km²), of which, 3,471 square miles (8,989 km²) of it is land and 12 square miles (31 km²) of it (0.34%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Perkins County, South Dakota - north
Ziebach County, South Dakota - east
Pennington County, South Dakota - south
Lawrence County, South Dakota - southwest
Butte County, South Dakota - northwest

Cities and Towns:

- Belle Fourche-Cheyenne Valleys	UT
- Cooper	township
- Dakota	township
- Faith	city	Incorporated Area
- Lakeside	township
- Moreau	township
- North Meade	UT
- Plainview	township
- Rapid City	city	Incorporated Area
- Smithville	township
- Southwest Meade	UT
- Sturgis (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Union	township
- Upper Red Owl	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."