County Past
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Meade County, South Dakota

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

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
32historic places
—earliest paper
1889formed
29,852pop. 2020
27cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 32 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1973; 1 is also National Historic Landmark. Most listings are in or near Sturgis, Faith, Piedmont.

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 Meade titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

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

32 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Archeological Site No. 39MD20TilfordSite1993
Archeological Site No. 39MD81SturgisSite1994
Archeological Site No. 39MD82SturgisSite1994
Baker, Joseph, HouseHerefordBuilding1986
Bartlett, L. L., HouseStonevilleBuilding1986
Bear Butte NHLSturgisSite1973
Bethel Lutheran ChurchFaithBuilding1986
Black Hawk Elementaty SchoolBlack HawkBuilding1986
Black Hills National CemeterySturgisDistrict2016
Covered Wagon ResortPiedmontDistrict2007
Erskine SchoolSturgisBuilding1984
Evans, John and Coralin, RanchPiedmontBuilding1986
Fort Meade DistrictSturgisDistrict1973
Fort Meade Veterans Administration HospitalFort MeadeDistrict2018
Frozenman Stage StationBisonSite1992
Graf, Stephen and Maria, HouseSturgisBuilding2002
H O Ranch Log HouseMarcusBuilding1990
Johnson, Ole and Carris, RanchBlack HawkBuilding1986
McMillan, John and Elsie, HouseSturgisBuilding2015
Minneapolis Brewing Company Beer WarehouseFaithBuilding2001
Municipal Building-City HallFaithBuilding2000
Olsen, Elias B., RanchElm SpringsDistrict1986
Raskob, Jacob and Elizabeth, RanchSturgisBuilding1986
Royal Center SchoolOpalBuilding2023
South Dakota Dept. of Transportation Bridge No. 47-151-389SturgisStructure1993
Stevens RanchPiedmontDistrict1986
Stomprude Trail RutsBisonSite1992
Sturgis Commercial BlockSturgisDistrict1975
Sturgis High SchoolSturgisBuilding2000
Sturgis Water Works Company Supply Works SiteSturgisDistrict2016
Tallent, Annie, HouseSturgisBuilding1976
Wenke, John G., HouseSturgisBuilding1976

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

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Meade was formed in 1889 (1889-03-09) from Lawrence.

By 9 March 1889, MEADE was created by Dakota Territory in present South Dakota from LAWRENCE.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Meade County population from 1890 to 2020 (Census historical series).

30k17k4,64018901920196020002020
189019001920194019501960198020002020
4,6404,9079,3679,73511,51612,04420,71724,25329,852

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

27 cemeteries and 4 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 27 of 27 listed
NameLatLon
Backes Cemetery44.89987-102.49222
Bear Butte Cemetery44.41114-103.49482
Ben Ash Cemetery45.02187-102.7308
Black Hills National Cemetery44.36887-103.47573
Blackhawk Cemetery44.14369-103.30686
Boneita Springs Cemetery44.44423-102.56182
Chalk Butte Cemetery44.61715-102.62251
Elk Vale Cemetery44.22413-103.15058
Elm Springs Cemetery44.30559-102.52887
Fairpoint Cemetery44.74879-102.78575
Faith Cemetery45.02374-102.00782
Fort Meade National Cemetery44.40258-103.47638
Haydraw Cemetery44.47427-102.71797
Lakeside Cemetery44.17544-102.58799
Mudd Butte Cemetery44.99415-102.86081
Piedmont Cemetery44.24258-103.38722
Plainview Cemetery44.61859-102.11226
Pleasant Valley Cemetery44.6897-102.55293
Pleasant Valley Cemetery44.31904-103.35295
Pleasant View Red Owl Cemetery44.68987-102.55281
Plum Draw Cemetery44.92165-102.95822
Saint Aloysius Cemetery44.41426-103.51951
Saint Eustace Cemetery44.40213-102.92376
Saint Joseph Cemetery45.02275-102.07654
Saint Patrick's Cemetery44.48859-102.16373
Viewfield Cemetery44.1925-102.85
White Owl Cemetery44.59554-102.42248
Historical populated places — 4 of 4
NameLatLon
Avance44.91832-102.24766
Carwye44.22221-103.4213
Goiens44.19582-103.39213
Runkel44.30054-103.53213

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 Meade County, South Dakota

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