Sully County, South Dakota

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

County Seat: Onida
Year Organized: 1873
Square Miles: 1,007

Court House:

P.O. Box 265
County Courthouse
Onida, SD 57564-0265

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Sully is named for Fort Sully, which is named in turn for is founder, officer Alfred Sully.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Sully County, created in 1873 and organized in 1883, was named for Fort Sully, a Missouri River military post, and its builder and commander General Alfred Sully. The county seat is located at Onida. In 1884 an election was held between Onida, Clifton and Fairbank for the location of the county seat. Onida had the majority but the result was challenged in court. The judge ruled in favor of Onida.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,070 square miles (2,772 km²), of which, 1,007 square miles (2,608 km²) of it is land and 63 square miles (164 km²) of it (5.93%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Potter County, South Dakota - north
Hyde County, South Dakota - east
Hughes County, South Dakota - south
Stanley County, South Dakota - southwest
Dewey County, South Dakota - northwest

Cities and Towns:

- Agar	town	Incorporated Area
- Onida (County Seat)	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."