County Past
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Roberts County, South Dakota

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

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
15historic places
—earliest paper
1883formed
10,280pop. 2020
58cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 15 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1976. Most listings are in or near Sisseton, New Effington, Ortley.

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 Roberts titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

6 of 15 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

15 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Archaeological Site 39RO0073SissetonSite2024
Hart School #3SissetonBuilding2000
Knapp RanchOrtleyDistrict2005
New Effington HospitalNew EffingtonBuilding1989
New Effington Rest Stop TipiNew EffingtonObject2015
Nigg, Louis, BarnSissetonBuilding2021
Robar Trading PostWilmotDistrict1988
Roberts County CourthouseSissetonBuilding1976
Sisseton Agency Headquarters & Wacipi GroundsAgency VillageSite2022
Sisseton Carnegie LibrarySissetonBuilding1996
Sisseton SchoolSissetonBuilding2020
Site 39RO71SissetonSite2005
South Dakota Department of Transportation Bridge No. 55-030-418OrtleyStructure1999
Stavig, Andrew and Mary, HouseSissetonBuilding1997
Walla Lutheran ChurchNew EffingtonBuilding2004

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

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Roberts was formed in 1883 (1883-03-08) from Grant, Wahpeton, Sisseton Indian Reserve.

ROBERTS created by Dakota Territory in present South Dakota and part of North Dakota, from GRANT and Wahpeton and Sisseton Indian Reserve.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

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

17k9,2551,99718901920196020002020
189019001920194019501960198020002020
1,99712,21616,51415,88714,92913,19010,91110,01610,280

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

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

Cemeteries — 58 of 58 listed
NameLatLon
Ascension Presbyterian Cemetery45.46218-97.05284
Bethania Cemetery45.86405-96.72049
Bethania Cemetery45.76356-96.93703
Bethel Cemetery45.5437-97.13516
Bethel Lutheran Cemetery45.84866-97.15559
Bohemian Cemetery45.90715-96.94661
Brandvold Cemetery45.89312-96.83359
Concordia Cemetery45.70313-96.91566
Corona Cemetery45.34115-96.72906
Eastman Cemetery45.33575-96.90385
Emanuel Lutheran Cemetery45.68857-96.98314
Evangelical German Lutheran Cemetery45.67463-96.91727
Faith Garden of Rest Cemetery45.87087-96.91805
Ferkingstad Cemetery45.89527-97.02045
Garfield Lutheran Cemetery45.39982-96.76207
Goodwill Cemetery45.62496-97.06196
Goodwill Number 2 Cemetery45.59246-97.06187
Goodwill Presbyterian Cemetery45.56928-97.0727
Hillside Cemetery45.86396-96.74118
Hope Lutheran Cemetery45.32458-97.02138
Hope Lutheran Cemetery45.67466-97.22241
Lake Traverse Presbyterian Cemetery45.66032-96.84249
Lake View Cemetery45.92145-96.61795
Lakeview Cemetery45.88551-96.83313
Long Hollow Presbyterian Cemetery45.68833-97.16846
Mayasan Presbyterian Cemetery45.78324-97.21323
New Effington Cemetery45.85538-96.9285
Nidaros Cemetery45.8494-97.0214
North Concordia Cemetery45.71886-96.91526
Norway Cemetery45.80575-97.06325
Old Ascension Cemetery45.46274-97.06091
Old Brandvold Cemetery45.89306-96.85461
Old Effington Cemetery45.81782-96.95887
Ortley Cemetery45.32745-97.20563
Peever Cemetery45.52826-96.95793
Renville Family Cemetery45.52784-97.06465
Saint Boniface Cemetery45.86351-97.09421
Saint John's Episcopal Cemetery45.62362-96.87609
Saint Joseph Cemetery45.82749-96.68915
Saint Mary's Catholic Cemetery45.38783-96.84157
Saint Mary's Episcopal Cemetery45.54871-97.05773
Saint Nicholaus Cemetery45.9217-96.79941
Saint Paul's Cemetery45.92093-97.01914
Saint Peter Cemetery45.80538-96.73586
Saint Peter's Cemetery45.6666-97.03526
Scandia Cemetery45.75426-96.95917
Sisseton City Cemetery45.66648-97.03695
Spring Valley Cemetery45.75021-97.1868
Stavanger Cemetery45.77536-97.04178
Summit Cemetery45.31215-97.06045
Thompson Cemetery45.90689-96.97709
Trinity Lutheran Cemetery45.74654-96.83568
Trondhjem Cemetery45.77548-96.74508
Walla Church Cemetery45.86399-96.88956
Wilmot Cemetery45.39904-96.85149
Wilmot Lutheran Cemetery45.38369-96.90381
Zion Lutheran Church Cemetery45.9203-97.06262
Zions Cemetery45.80536-96.94848

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 Roberts County, South Dakota

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