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Custer County, South Dakota

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

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
53historic places
—earliest paper
1875formed
8,318pop. 2020
6cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 53 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1972. Most listings are in or near Custer, City Restricted, Dewey.

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 Custer titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

24 of 53 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

53 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Archeological Site 39CU2565DeweySite2016
Archeological Site 39CU3178DeweySite2016
Archeological Site 39CU3393DeweySite2016
Archeological Site 39CU4164DeweySite2016
Archeological Site No. 39CU70CusterSite1993
Archeological Site No. 39CU890HermosaSite1993
Archeological site no. 39CU1619CusterSite1999
Ayres, Lonnie and Francis, RanchCusterDistrict1991
Badger HoleCusterBuilding1973
Bauer, Maria, Homestead RanchCusterDistrict1992
Beaver Creek BridgeHot SpringsStructure1984
Beaver Creek RockshelterPringleSite1993
Buffalo Gap Cheyenne River BridgeBuffalo GapStructure1988
Buffalo Gap Historic Commercial DistrictBuffalo GapDistrict1995
Buffalo Gap Historic District (Boundary Decrease)Buffalo GapDistrict2024
CCC Camp Custer Officers' CabinCusterBuilding1992
Cold Springs SchoolhouseCusterBuilding1973
Custer County CourthouseCusterBuilding1972
Custer State Game LodgeCusterBuilding1983
Custer State Park MuseumHermosaBuilding1983
Fairburn Historic Commercial DistrictFairburnDistrict1995
Fairburn Historic Commercial District (Boundary Decrease)FairburnDistrict2018
First National Bank BuildingCusterBuilding1982
Fourmile School No. 21CusterBuilding1991
Galena Creek Schoolhouse (Additional Documentation)CusterBuilding2023
Garlock BuildingCusterBuilding2004
Grace Coolidge Memorial Log BuildingCusterBuilding2001
Hermosa Masonic LodgeHermosaBuilding2009
Historic Trail and Cave EntranceCusterStructure1995
Lampert, Charles and Ollie, RanchCusterDistrict1990
Mann, Irene and Walter, RanchCusterDistrict1990
Norbeck, Peter, Summer HouseCusterBuilding1977
Pig Tail BridgeHot SpringsStructure1995
Ranger StationCusterBuilding1995
Red Shirt BridgeRed ShirtStructure1993
Roetzel, Ferdinand and Elizabeth, RanchCusterDistrict1991
Site No. 39 Cu 510City RestrictedSite1982
Site No. 39 Cu 511City RestrictedSite1982
Site No. 39 Cu 512City RestrictedSite1982
Site No. 39 Cu 513City RestrictedSite1982
Site No. 39 Cu 514City RestrictedSite1982
Site No. 39 Cu 515City RestrictedSite1982
Site No. 39 Cu 516City RestrictedSite1982
Site No. 39 Cu 91City RestrictedSite1982
South Dakota Dept. of Transportation Bridge No. 17-289-107CusterStructure1993
Stearns, William, RanchCusterDistrict1990
Streeter, Norman B., HomesteadBuffalo GapDistrict1995
Towner, Francis Averill (T. A.) and Janet Leach, HouseCusterBuilding1990
Tubbs, Newton Seymour, HouseCusterBuilding1993
Ward, Elbert and Harriet, RanchCusterDistrict1990
Way Park MuseumCusterBuilding1973
Wind Cave National Park Administrative and Utility Area Historic DistrictCusterDistrict1984
Young, Edna and Ernest, RanchCusterDistrict1990

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

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Custer was formed in 1875 (1875-01-11) from unknown / original county.

CUSTER created by Dakota Territory in present South Dakota from Non-County Area 1.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Custer County population from 1880 to 2020 (Census historical series).

8,3184,656995188019201950196020002020
188019001920194019501960198020002020
9952,7283,9076,0235,5174,9066,0007,2758,318

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

National Park Service sites nearby

NPS

Park units within about 40 km of the county centroid (from NPS Public POIs; no API key).

SiteTypeDist.
WICAPark unit12.1 km
moruPark unit21.3 km

Source: NPS National Datasets / Public POIs. The NPS Developer API requires a free key and was not used.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

6 cemeteries and 3 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 6 of 6 listed
NameLatLon
Cold Springs Cemetery43.62321-103.50652
Custer Cemetery43.77811-103.61595
Fairburn Cemetery43.6872-103.19602
Folsom Cemetery43.79068-102.80453
Highland Park Cemetery43.83853-103.20436
Pringle Cemetery43.60858-103.60463
Historical populated places — 3 of 3
NameLatLon
Cold Spring II43.62221-103.50519
Danoby43.77498-103.73242
Ivanhoe43.47914-103.69492

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 Custer County, South Dakota

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