Stanley County, South Dakota: History and Information

Stanley County, South Dakota

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

County Seat: Fort Pierre
Year Organized: 1873
Square Miles: 1,443

Court House:

P.O. Box 595
County Courthouse
Fort Pierre, SD 57532-0595

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Stanley is named for military officer David S. Stanley, long-time commander at Fort Sully.

Demographics:

History

Stanley County, created in 1873 and organized in 1889, was named for Brig. General David S. Stanley, who for many years was commander at Fort Sully in Sully County, across the Missouri River from Stanley County. The first county officers were elected immediately after the organization in 1889. Fort Pierre was selected as the county seat after a spirited contest with the old town of Stanley.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,517 square miles (3,929 km²), of which, 1,443 square miles (3,738 km²) of it is land and 74 square miles (191 km²) of it (4.86%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Dewey County, South Dakota - north

Sully County, South Dakota - northeast

Hughes County, South Dakota - east

Lyman County, South Dakota - southeast

Jones County, South Dakota - south

Haakon County, South Dakota - west

Cities and Towns:

- Fort Pierre (County Seat)

city

Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our 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."

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