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Brookings County, South Dakota

Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
45historic places
—earliest paper
1862formed
34,375pop. 2020
35cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 45 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1976. Most listings are in or near Brookings, Bruce, Volga.

Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.

Newspapers

Library of Congress

Newspaper directory data for South Dakota is not yet loaded on this site. Browse Brookings titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

32 of 45 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

45 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Archaeological Site 39BK0003BruceSite2023
Archaeological Site 39BK0102BruceSite2024
Brookings Central Residential Historic DistrictBrookingsDistrict1994
Brookings Central Residential Historic District (Boundary Increase)BrookingsBuilding2001
Brookings City HallBrookingsBuilding1982
Brookings Commercial Historic District (Additional Documentation)BrookingsDistrict1988
Brookings County CourthouseBrookingsBuilding1976
Brookings University Residential Historic DistrictBrookingsDistrict1999
Caldwell, W. A., HouseBrookingsBuilding1986
Carnegie Public LibraryBrookingsBuilding1980
Chicago and Northwestern Railroad DepotBrookingsBuilding1976
Cobel, Ivan, HouseBrookingsBuilding2003
Coolidge Sylvan TheatreBrookingsStructure1987
Coughlin CampanileBrookingsStructure1987
Experimental Rammed Earth Machine ShedBrookingsBuilding1993
Experimental Rammed Earth WallBrookingsStructure1991
Fishback HouseBrookingsBuilding1976
Fishback House (Boundary Increase)BrookingsSite1987
Graham HouseBrookingsBuilding1994
Hall, John L., HouseVolgaBuilding2010
Haugen, E.E., HouseBrookingsBuilding2010
Henry-Martinson HouseVolgaBuilding1977
Intermill HouseBruceBuilding1997
Lockhart HouseBrookingsBuilding2010
Mathews, G. A., HouseBrookingsBuilding1986
Micheel, Herman F., Gothic Arched-Roof BarnWhiteBuilding1991
Mortimer CabinBruceBuilding2017
Nick's Hamburger ShopBrookingsBuilding1986
Pioneer Park BandshellBrookingsStructure2007
Sexauer Seed Company Historic DistrictBrookingsDistrict2001
Sexauer, George P., HouseBrookingsBuilding1990
Singsaas Lutheran ChurchLake Hendricks TownshipBuilding2003
South Dakota Department of Transportation Bridge No. 06-129-020BruceStructure1999
South Dakota Department of Transportation Bridge No. 06-142-190BrookingsStructure1999
St. Mary's SchoolElktonBuilding1996
Sterling Methodist ChurchBruceBuilding1989
Stock Judging PavilionBrookingsBuilding1978
Trygstad Law and Commerce BuildingBrookingsBuilding1984
Volga AuditoriumVolgaBuilding2000
Volga HospitalVolgaBuilding2023
Vostad FarmBrookingsDistrict2005
Walters, Solomon, HouseBruceBuilding1978
Wenona Hall and Wecota HallBrookingsBuilding1980
Woodbine CottageBrookingsBuilding1990
Woodbine Cottage Experimental Rammed Earth WallBrookingsStructure1991

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Brookings was formed in 1862 (1862-04-05) from unknown / original county.

BROOKINGS created by Dakota Territory in present South Dakota from non-county area.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Brookings County population from 1870 to 2020 (Census historical series).

34k17k1631870188019201950196020002020
1870188019001920194019501960198020002020
1634,96512,56116,11916,56017,85120,04624,33228,22034,375

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

35 cemeteries and 0 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 35 of 35 listed
NameLatLon
A Prairie Cemetery44.28286-96.79817
Arlington Cemetery44.35107-97.12728
Bangor Cemetery44.31191-97.12478
Bethania Cemetery44.26802-96.93644
Bethel Cemetery44.49935-97.1
Calvary Cemetery44.29579-96.81421
Deer Creek Cemetery44.41357-96.86894
East Lake Campbell Cemetery44.21691-96.86616
East Sinai Cemetery44.22996-97.02922
Elkton City Cemetery44.21783-96.48708
Elmwood Cemetery44.43718-96.88422
Fairlawn Cemetery44.28296-96.66807
Fairview Cemetery44.43357-96.62838
First Lutheran Cemetery44.31385-96.92922
First Lutheran Cemetery44.29857-96.82449
Fountain Cemetery44.36572-96.66738
Greenwood Cemetery44.29663-96.81671
Hillside Cemetery44.33351-96.94477
Kirby Cemetery44.31198-96.88827
Oakwood Zion Cemetery44.42663-97.01228
Oslo Lutheran Cemetery44.22429-96.92787
Pioneer Lutheran Cemetery44.45916-96.72631
Saint Johns Cemetery44.53705-96.80549
Saint Marys Cemetery44.23413-96.46642
Saint Pauls Cemetery44.47024-96.69699
Saint Petri Cemetery44.47135-96.85755
Saint Wiliams Catholic Cemetery44.28546-96.68717
Scandinavian Lutheran Cemetery44.3489-96.84854
Sinai Cemetery44.24556-97.05828
Sterling Lutheran Cemetery44.3847-96.85453
Sterling Methodist Cemetery44.45584-96.78541
Trasta Cemetery44.48537-97.06878
Trinity Cemetery44.32635-96.94255
Trinity Lutheran Cemetery44.21658-96.48684
Trulock Cemetery44.49038-96.45864

Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.

Historical markers

HMdb link

Marker text and photos from the Historical Marker Database (HMdb) are not embedded here. HMdb allows non-commercial reuse with attribution, but commercial/compensated use needs written permission; this is a commercial site, so we only link out.

Search HMdb for Brookings County, South Dakota

Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.