USGS, Deadwood sheet, 1894 · Public domainEvery town name started with somebody's decision.
We dig up who made it, when, and why, and we tell you when the popular story doesn't hold up.
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All South Dakota stories
How Lead, South Dakota Got Its Name (and Why It Rhymes with 'Seed')
Lead, South Dakota, takes its name from an old miners' word: a "lead" is a ledge or vein of ore, and the hills around town were full of them.
Documented
How Aberdeen, South Dakota Got Its Name
Aberdeen, South Dakota, is named for Aberdeen, Scotland, the home region of Alexander Mitchell, the Milwaukee banker who ran the railroad that built the town.
Documented
How Arlington, South Dakota Got Its Name (After Nordland and Denver)
Arlington, South Dakota, is named after Arlington, Virginia, but it took three tries to get there: the town started out as Nordland and was briefly called Denver.
Documented
How Belle Fourche, South Dakota Got Its Name (and How to Say It)
Belle Fourche, South Dakota, takes its name from the Belle Fourche River, which early French explorers called the "beautiful fork."
Documented
How Brookings, South Dakota Got Its Name (Hint: "Ol' Wooden Legs")
Brookings, South Dakota, is named for Wilmot W. Brookings, a pioneer promoter and judge who lost both feet to frostbite in 1858 and went on to help build Dakota Territory anyway.
Documented
How Canton, South Dakota Got Its Name (China, or Ohio?)
Canton, South Dakota, got its name from a settlers' vote, and the most famous story says they picked Canton, China, believing it was on the exact opposite side of the globe. A 1908 guide says Canton, Ohio, instead.
Disputed
How Custer, South Dakota Got Its Name (It Almost Wasn't Custer)
Custer, South Dakota, is named for George Armstrong Custer, whose 1874 expedition found gold nearby.
Documented
How De Smet, South Dakota Got Its Name (Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little Town)
De Smet, South Dakota, is named for Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, a Belgian Jesuit missionary known as "the Apostle of the Indians." It's also the little town on the prairie from Laura Ingalls Wilder's books.
Documented
How Deadwood, South Dakota Got Its Name
Deadwood, South Dakota, is named after the gulch it sits in, and the gulch got its name from the dead trees the first gold prospectors found there.
Documented
How Gettysburg, South Dakota Got Its Name (Union Veterans Named It)
Gettysburg, South Dakota, is named after the Pennsylvania battlefield, because many of the Union veterans who settled here had fought there.
Documented
How Highmore, South Dakota Got Its Name (High Ground, Mostly)
Highmore, South Dakota, got its name because it sits on high ground, though the old sources don't agree on exactly what it was supposed to be the highest point between.
Documented
How Hot Springs, South Dakota Got Its Name (It Started Out as Minnekahta)
Hot Springs, South Dakota, is named for the warm springs that bubble up in town, and its first name, Minnekahta, came from the Lakota name for the same water.
Documented
How Huron, South Dakota Got Its Name (From a People Who Never Lived There)
Huron, South Dakota, is named for the Huron people, a nation from the Great Lakes region, by the Chicago & North Western railroad that founded the town in 1880.
Documented
How Keystone, South Dakota Got Its Name (From a Gold Mine)
Keystone, South Dakota, is named for the Keystone Mine, a gold mine staked nearby in 1891, and the mine's name most likely came from a Masonic emblem.
Documented
How Lemmon, South Dakota Got Its Name (From a Famous Cowman)
Lemmon, South Dakota, is named for G. E. "Ed" Lemmon, a cattleman known for running the largest fenced pasture in the world, who bought the land for the townsite when the railroad came through.
Documented
How Mitchell, South Dakota Got Its Name (It Started Out as Firesteel)
Mitchell, South Dakota, is named for Alexander Mitchell, the Milwaukee banker who was president of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway when its tracks came through.
Documented
How Pierre, South Dakota Got Its Name (and Why It's Said "Peer")
Pierre, South Dakota, takes its name from Fort Pierre, a fur-trading post across the Missouri River that was named for St. Louis fur trader Pierre Chouteau Jr. in 1832.
Documented
How Rapid City, South Dakota Got Its Name
Rapid City, South Dakota, is named after Rapid Creek, the fast, spring-fed stream that runs through town.
Documented
How Redfield, South Dakota Got Its Name (It Was Stennett Junction First)
Redfield, South Dakota, is named for J. B. Redfield, a longtime officer of the Chicago & North Western Railway. Before that, the place was called Stennett Junction.
Documented
How Sioux Falls, South Dakota Got Its Name
Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is named for the falls of the Big Sioux River, the string of rocky drops that still runs through the middle of the city.
Documented
How Sturgis, South Dakota Got Its Name: A Father, a Son, and Little Bighorn
Sturgis, South Dakota, is named for the Sturgis family of the 7th Cavalry, but the sources split on which Sturgis.
Disputed
How Vermillion, South Dakota Got Its Name
Vermillion, South Dakota, is named after the Vermillion River, which got its name from the red color of the soil along its banks.
Documented
How Wall, South Dakota Got Its Name (It's the Badlands)
Wall, South Dakota, is named for a natural wall of rock nearby, the long ridge of eroded cliffs that's known today as the Badlands Wall.
Documented
How Watertown, South Dakota Got Its Name
Watertown, South Dakota, is named for Watertown, New York, the hometown of John E. Kemp, the first settler, who suggested the name.
Documented
How Yankton, South Dakota Got Its Name
Yankton, South Dakota, is named for the Yankton people, the Ihanktonwan, whose name in their own language is usually translated as "End Village."
DocumentedWe haven't written that one yet. More towns are on the way.
Where state names come from
One state at a time, sources includedBrowse by state
More states as each one is researchedEvery claim has a source
Federal records, old place-name books, newspapers. Listed at the end of every story.
We say how sure we are
Documented, Disputed or Unknown, right under the title.
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