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Pennington County, South Dakota

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

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
64historic places
—earliest paper
1875formed
109,222pop. 2020
21cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 64 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1966. Most listings are in or near Rapid City, Hill City, Keystone.

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 Pennington titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

39 of 64 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

64 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Archeological Site No. 39PN376CusterSite1993
Black Hills Model HomeRapid CityBuilding2004
Burlington and Quincy High Line Hill City to Keystone BranchHill CityDistrict2003
Byron, Lewis, HouseKeystoneBuilding1982
Calumet HotelWastaBuilding2000
Casper Supply Company of SDRapid CityBuilding2000
Cassidy HouseRapid CityBuilding1998
Chapel in the HillsRapid CityBuilding2012
Church of the Immaculate ConceptionRapid CityBuilding1975
Civilian Conservation Corp Camp F-10Rapid CityDistrict2004
Dean Motor CompanyRapid CityBuilding1995
Dinosaur ParkRapid CityObject1990
Emmanuel Episcopal ChurchRapid CityBuilding1975
Fairmont Creamery Company BuildingRapid CityBuilding2006
Feigel HouseRapid CityBuilding1997
First Congregational ChurchRapid CityBuilding1984
Gambrill Storage BuildingRapid CityBuilding1984
Golden Summit Mine Foreman's CabinHill CityBuilding2012
Gramberg RanchHermosaDistrict1999
Harney Peak HotelHill CityBuilding1977
Harney Peak Lookout Tower, Dam, Pumphouse and StairwayCusterSite1983
Harney Peak Tin Mining Company BuildingsHill CityBuilding1977
Holmes, Zack, HouseRapid CityBuilding1982
Johnson Siding, House and SawmillRapid CityBuilding1982
Keystone SchoolKeystoneBuilding1981
Keystone Trading Company StoreKeystoneBuilding1982
Kudrna, Josef and Marie, Homestead and RanchScenicDistrict2015
Madison RanchRApid CityDistrict2003
McEachron, C. E., General MerchandiseHill CityBuilding1994
Milwaukee Road Freight HouseRapid CityBuilding1989
Motor Service CompanyRapid CityBuilding1995
Mount Rushmore National MemorialKeystoneDistrict1966
Mystic Townsite Historic DistrictMysticDistrict1986
Nelson, Maurice, HouseRapid CityBuilding1998
Nichols Funeral Home BuildingRapid CityBuilding2004
Otho Mining DistrictOthoDistrict2004
Pennington County CourthouseRapid CityBuilding1976
Quinn Methodist ChurchQuinnBuilding2007
Quinn, Michael, HouseRapid CityBuilding1993
Rapid City Carnegie LibraryRapid CityBuilding1981
Rapid City Commercial Historic District (Boundary Increase)Rapid CityDistrict1998
Rapid City Fruit CompanyRapid CityBuilding1993
Rapid City GarageRapid CityBuilding1984
Rapid City High SchoolRapid CityBuilding2010
Rapid City Historic Commercial DistrictRapid CityDistrict1974
Rapid City Historical MuseumRapid CityBuilding1988
Rapid City LaundryRapid CityBuilding1995
Rapid City Masonic TempleRapid CityBuilding2016
Rapid City West Boulevard Historic DistrictRapid CityDistrict1974
Rapid City West Boulevard Historic District (Boundary Increase)Rapid CityDistrict1995
Reynolds, Joseph, Ranch Yard and Stage StopRochfordDistrict2022
Shaw, Glenn W., HouseRapid CityBuilding2002
Site No. 39 PN 108City RestrictedSite1982
Site No. 39 PN 438City RestrictedSite1982
Site No. 39 PN 439City RestrictedSite1982
Site No. 39 PN 57City RestrictedSite1982
Sitting Bull Crystal Cavern Dance PavilionRockervilleBuilding1995
South Dakota Department of Transportation Bridge No. 52-575-383CaputaStructure1999
South Dakota Department of Transportation Bridge No. 52-824-300WastaStructure1999
South Dakota Stockgrowers Association BuildingRapid CityBuilding2024
Swander Bakery BuildingRapid CityBuilding2001
Von Woehrmann BuildingHill CityBuilding1977
Wasta Rest Stop Tipi-EastboundWastaObject2015
Wasta Rest Stop Tipi-WestboundWastaObject2015

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

County formation

Newberry AHCB

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

PENNINGTON 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

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

109k56k2,244188019201950196020002020
188019001920194019501960198020002020
2,2445,61012,72023,79934,05358,19570,36188,565109,222

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.
moruPark unit52.4 km

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

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

21 cemeteries and 10 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 21 of 21 listed
NameLatLon
Creighton Cemetery44.25524-102.19747
Emmanuel Episcopal Church Memorial Garden44.07819-103.23088
Emmanuel Lutheran Cemetery44.28341-102.16833
Evergreen Cemetery44.0733-103.17233
Hayward Cemetery43.88795-103.35116
Hill City Cemetery43.93653-103.57866
Larsen Cemetery43.96585-102.87926
Mount Calvary Cemetery44.06256-103.25965
Mount Hope Cemetery43.99505-102.11619
Mountain View Cemetery43.88359-103.41518
Mountain View Cemetery44.06581-103.25935
New Underwood Cemetery44.09696-102.82437
Owanka Cemetery44.02164-102.6034
Pine Lawn Memorial Park44.04196-103.24707
Rochford Cemetery44.11163-103.74773
Rockerville Cemetery43.968-103.35755
Rose Cemetery44.44817-102.0117
Saint Martin Monastery Cemetery44.10357-103.30436
Saint Paul's Lutheran Cemetery44.16799-102.10779
Scenic Cemetery43.80772-102.56609
Wall Cemetery43.98525-102.23803
Historical populated places — 10 of 10
NameLatLon
Canyon City44.08499-103.60575
Castleton44.06526-103.65603
Clara Belle Camp43.86387-103.59631
Copper Camp44.09165-103.79909
Fairview44.10137-103.65186
Florence44.13582-103.7802
Frenchtown43.88749-103.38241
Hayward43.87166-103.33436
Pactola44.0736-103.4838
Sheridan43.97693-103.47047

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 Pennington County, South Dakota

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