Lawrence County, South Dakota

Lawrence County Education, Geography, and History

Lawrence County is a county located in the state of South Dakota. Based on the 2010 census, the population was 24,097. Its county seat is Deadwood.

Lawrence County is coextensive with the Spearfish, SD Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Rapid City-Spearfish, SD Combined Statistical Area.

Etymology - Origin of Lawrence County Name

The county was named for "Colonel" John Lawrence who came to the county as first treasurer in 1877. Lawrence had previously served in the Dakota Territorial Legislature, as a Seargent at Arms for the United States House of Representatives, and a US Marshall for the Dakota territory. After retirement he continued to act as county road supervisor and as an election judge. The title "Colonel" was honorary, bestowed by the governor of the Dakota Territory.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: CensusBureau Quick Facts

Lawrence County History

Governor Pennington appointed Commissioners in April 1877 to organize the county. Deadwood was made the county seat. The county was named in honor of Colonel John Lawrence, the county's first Treasurer. Colonel Lawrence had been a member of the territorial legislature, superintendent of the Sioux City and Fort Randall Wagon Road and a colonel on the staff of Governor Faulk.

Geography: Land and Water

As reported by the Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 800 square miles (2,073 km²), of which, 800 square miles (2,072 km²) of it is land and 0 square miles (1 km²) of it (0.03%) is water.

Neighboring Counties

Bordering counties are as follows:

• Butte County, South Dakota - north
• Meade County, South Dakota - east
• Pennington County, South Dakota - south
• Weston County, Wyoming - southwest
• Crook County, Wyoming - west

Education

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