How Redfield, South Dakota Got Its Name (It Was Stennett Junction First)

Name origin: Documented3 sourcesChecked Oct 26, 2026

Detail of an 1899 U.S. Geological Survey map showing the street grid of Redfield beside a winding river, with two railroad lines crossing at the edge of town — Redfield on the U.S. Geological Survey's Redfield sheet, 1899. Two railroad lines cross right at the edge of town. U.S. Geological Survey, Redfield sheet (1:125,000), 1899. Public domain.

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, so it went from one railroad name to another.

Where the name comes from

A 1908 railroad guide to place names says the town “was named for J. B. Redfield, one of the oldest and most valued officers of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company.” In its list of counties, the same book gives his full first name, Joseph, and says he was “then and now one of the oldest officers” of the railroad. The U.S. Geological Survey’s place-name record quotes the guide.

The guide adds that the town was laid out in 1880 by the Western Town Lot Company.

What it was before: Stennett Junction

The town’s tourism site says the first settlement here dates to the fall of 1878 and was called Stennett Junction, after another official of the Northwestern railroad. The name changed to Redfield later. We didn’t find a solid source for exactly when the name changed. The town was laid out in 1880, and it was incorporated as Redfield in 1883.

The tourism site doesn’t say which official. Here’s a name worth noticing, though: the man who wrote the 1908 guide we keep quoting was W. H. Stennett, the railroad’s auditor of expenditures, according to the book’s own list of officers. Nobody we found says the junction was named for him, so we’re not claiming it. And his book, which tracks old station names, never mentions Stennett Junction at all.

Sources & further reading

W. H. Stennett, A History of the Origin of the Place Names Connected with the Chicago & North Western and Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railways (1908). A public-domain railroad guide. Says the town was named for J. B. (Joseph B.) Redfield and gives the 1880 layout.
GNIS feature 1265687 (U.S. Geological Survey). The federal record for Redfield. Quotes the 1908 guide and gives 1883 for incorporation.
Redfield tourism, “First Settlement: Stennett Junction.” The 1878 settlement and its first name.

Spot something wrong? Corrections are noted here with their date, never made silently.