Grant County, South Dakota

13 topographic sheets cover 10 settlements here, and 15 properties are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Research this county

From the record

15 National Register listings published here.

Sources: the National Register database, National Park Service

South Dakota within the United States

Grant County within South Dakota

What the record shows

61 topographic sheet readings cover the county's settlements.
15 properties here are on the National Register of Historic Places: 13 buildings, 1 structure and 1 district.
5 of the 15 listings were added during the 1970s.
The Geographic Names Information System records 10 populated places in this county; 10 are covered by at least one topographic sheet.

Places on the National Register

Every property in this county listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with the year it was listed and the federal nomination document.

Property	Type	Listed	Reference
Big Stone City Hall	building	2004	04000764
Brown Earth Presbyterian Church	building	1984	84003288
First Congregational Church of Milbank	building	1978	78002553
First National Bank of Milbank	building	1978	78002554
First State Bank Building	building	1987	87000221
Herman Friewald Barn	building	2008	08000045
James A. and Ida Bell Gold House	building	2008	08000046
Grant County Courthouse	building	1993	92001858
Hollands Grist Mill	structure	1981	81000573
Emil and Hannah Johnson House	building	2008	08000047
George and Mary Koch Farm	district	2008	08000048
Lebanon Lutheran Church	building	1977	77001244
Milbank Carnegie Library	building	1978	78002555
Ole Nelson Barn	building	2008	08000049
Swedish Lutheran Church of Strandburg	building	1978	78002556

Wildfire, 1999 to 2020

59 fires

Every wildfire the federal occurrence database records inside this county: 59 of them, burning about 383 acres. None started naturally and 1 was recorded as arson. Each settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	44
Debris and open burning	9
Railroad operations and maintenance	4
Equipment and vehicle use	1
Arson/incendiarism	1

The five largest, by the area the report gives. One of them was set deliberately.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
4 November 2020	Debris and open burning	70 acres	South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression	not named
5 May 2008	Debris and open burning	50 acres	South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression	not named
6 November 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	43 acres	Waubay Wetland Management District	SDWDR-FY21-WF-STREICH
23 August 2000	Debris and open burning	40 acres	South Shore Volunteer Fire Department	MIETIS
13 May 2015	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	20 acres	South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression	LODGE FIRE
23 April 1999	Arson/incendiarism	17 acres	Waubay National Wildlife Refuge	VANHOUT
6 March 2000	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	12 acres	South Shore Volunteer Fire Department	WILLIS PALMER
11 April 2011	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	10 acres	South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression	BERG

Every settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it - see the settlement index below.

Storms, 1955 to 2025

60 of 281 shown

The NOAA Storm Events Database holds 281 reports for this county, causing no deaths, 2 injuries and about $1,059,800 in recorded property damage. Each settlement page carries the reports that name it.

Kind of event	Reports
Hail	128
Thunderstorm Wind	83
Flood	25
Tornado	22
Flash Flood	14
Lightning	5
Funnel Cloud	3
Wildfire	1

The most serious of them, by death, then injury, then recorded damage. The accounts are quoted exactly as the forecast office filed them.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
July 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Milbank	2 hurt	Many trees were downed throughout the city of Milbank. Two semis were blown off of Highway 12 near Milbank resulting in injuries to the drivers.
June 2008	Flash Flood	Hiland	$250,000	no account filed
August 1981	Tornado (F1)	not stated	$250,000	no account filed
April 2023	Flood	Hiland	$150,000	no account filed
June 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Milbank	$131,000	Eighty mph winds caused major tree and structural damage in and around Milbank. Many trees were downed.
April 2019	Flood	Hiland	$75,800	no account filed
May 1994	Hail	Strandburg	$50,000	The hail broke windows, and damaged shingles, siding, and vehicles. There was undetermined crop damage.
July 1994	Hail	Labolt	$50,000	no account filed
July 2013	Flash Flood	Hiland	$40,000	no account filed
August 1955	Tornado (F2)	not stated	$25,000	no account filed
March 2009	Flash Flood	Marvin	$20,000	Flash flooding damaged a bridge along with several township roads in Grant county.
August 2017	Lightning	Milbank	$10,000	Lightning blew out a transformer which snapped a power pole and downed some power lines in Milbank.
May 1977	Tornado	not stated	$2,500	no account filed
May 1973	Tornado (F1)	not stated	$2,500	no account filed
August 2007	Lightning	Milbank	$2,000	Lightning struck a home in Milbank damaging some of the siding, sheet rock, electrical wiring and outlets, and blew a chunk of cement out of the basement.
October 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Milbank SD	$1,000	Thunderstorm winds damaged a commercial building under construction.
June 2025	Flood	Milbank	-	The Milbank COOP observer reported standing water in farm fields between Milbank and Twin Brooks.
June 2025	Flood	Hiland	-	A resident of Grant county submitted photos of their flooded homestead including water over the road and up to the foundation of the residence.
August 2025	Flood	Milbank Arpt	-	The river crested at 1059.7 feet, or 3.7 feet above flood stage, at 2:00 p.m. CST on August 7th. At its peak, the water reached just shy of the bottom of the bridges on 145th Street and 480th Avenue. The low water crossing on 479th Avenue was flooded, along with nearby agricultural lands.
May 2023	Tornado (EF0)	Labolt	-	A storm chaser posted photos of a rope tornado moving through pasture and an open field. The tornado may have clipped some trees as well before dissipating.
April 2023	Flood	Milbank Arpt	-	The South Fork Whetstone River gauge near Milbank peaked just above flood stage at 1113.83 feet, with water reaching the bottom of the bridge on 148th Street. Otherwise the impact was mainly to agricultural lands.
April 2023	Flood	Big Stone City	-	The Whetstone River gauge above Big Stone City recorded a peak of 19.65 feet on April 13th, which is just below major flood stage.
April 2023	Flood	Milbank Arpt	-	The North Fork Whetstone River gauge near Milbank peaked in moderate flood stage at 1062.40 feet on the evening of April 15th, with water crossing over 479th Avenue and topping the bridge on 144th Street. Additionally water reached the bridges at 145th Street and 480th Avenue. At this intersection, a vehicle drove into flood waters and drifted down river, initiating a multi agency water rescue. Additionally, significant amounts of agricultural land was flooded.
April 2023	Flood	Hiland	-	Big Sioux river near Florence peaked in major flood stage at 9.58 feet in the early morning hours of April 13th. This is a record flood stage for this location. Being the headwaters of the Big Sioux the main impacts were to local and county roads and bridges as well as agricultural lands.
May 2022	Tornado (EF1)	Twin Brooks	-	Roughly 300 yards to the south of the farm a calf shed was picked\|up and lofted to the north, over the shelterbelt on the south\|side of the property. The calf shed would land in the feed lot\|area and pushed up against a barn. A stave silo was moved off the\|foundation about a foot, but otherwise remained erect. A pole barn \|was severely damaged, with the west wall collapsed and the south wall\|pushed in. A wood grain bin shifted off the foundation and was\|pushed 300 feet to the north. Two empty grain bins were\|destroyed. One tossed into a creek on the north end of the\|property. The second was destroyed and lofted. A cattle trailer\|at the same location was pushed about 100 feet before it was\|rolled into the creek. Pieces of debris from the farm would be\|found across Highway 12 and over a mile to the north northeast of\|the property.
May 2022	Tornado (EF1)	Albee	-	The south to north tornado track started south of 156th St along 482nd Ave where a farm exhibited clear tornado damage which included mangled trees, barn roof damage, barn doors split in half, residential roof and siding damage and a camper completely destroyed. The track would continue roughly three miles north in the vicinity of 153rd St. Another farm would sustain damage, with tops of trees missing in one shelterbelt and uprooted and snapped trees in a second shelterbelt. The dormer of the residence was ripped off and landed 85 to 100 yards from the house in a northeast direction. North of this property a dairy farm had a machine shed with collapsed walls. This farm was housing dairy cattle that were transported from the Estelline area after a May 12 tornado destroyed barns on that property. The last indication of the tornado track was through a shelter belt a quarter mile north of 153rd St.
May 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Big Stone City	-	The roof of a Big Stone City business was blown off, and parts of it ended up in a tree about 360 feet to the north by estimated 80 mph winds.
May 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Hiland	-	Winds damaged building doors and shingles, and downed trees. A nearby weather station reported 84 mph wind gusts.
May 2022	Tornado (EF1)	Labolt	-	Two properties near the intersection of 164th St and 475th Ave sustained damage. The first farm had a roof ripped off a barn, damage to a machine shed, a destroyed stave silo, debris pierced through house walls, roof panels off house, broken house windows, snapped and uprooted trees, and a dented grain bin. The second residence had half a barn roof ripped off and tossed a quarter mile to the northeast. The track continued northeast roughly six miles, crossing Grant County Highway 15, between 158th St and 159th St. Near this location a farmstead sustained complete loss of a machine shed and power lines were downed. The track would come to an end roughly two more miles to the northeast near 157th St, where another farm would sustain complete loss to a machine shed and debris spread across the field to the north northeast.
May 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Labolt	-	Severe winds downed multiple trees and blew over a shed.
May 2022	Tornado (EF1)	Albee	-	The southwest half of a machine shed shop was completely\|destroyed. The north side remained upright and on the foundation,\|however garage doors and entry doors no longer close properly due\|to a counter clockwise twisting of the frame. 2x12 rafters from\|the machine shed were launched through the walls of a nearby shed. \|Another shed on the property also lost one third of its roof. \|Debris from the buildings was spread to the northeast with large \|pieces of wood pierced vertically into the ground along the track. \|Debris was tossed northeast between one quarter and one half mile \|from the farm.
June 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Milbank	-	Significant straight-line wind snapped and uprooted many trees at the cemetery northeast of Milbank. It also destroyed a two-stall shed and another outbuilding had roof damage.
September 2022	Hail	Strandburg	-	The timing and location of the report are approximated.
August 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Hiland	-	Estimated wind speeds of 65 mph occurred.
July 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Marvin	-	Six grain bins received considerable denting from estimated seventy-five mph winds.
August 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Big Stone City	-	Estimated sixty mph winds brought down several large tree limbs.
June 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Marvin	-	A semi was blown over on Interstate-29. No injuries were reported.
June 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Troy	-	Sixty mph winds were estimated.
March 2019	Flood	Hiland	-	Many county and township roads went underwater and were closed.
July 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Revillo	-	Sixty mph winds were estimated.
June 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Albee	-	Sixty-five mph winds were estimated.
June 2018	Flash Flood	Albee	-	Heavy rains of 3 to 6 inches over a short period of time caused flash flooding from the Albee area to the Revillo area. There was overland flooding along with several roads flooded with a road closure.
June 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Twin Brooks	-	Sixty mph winds were estimated.
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Milbank	-	A large section of the roof on a dairy barn was blown off by estimated eighty to ninety mph winds.
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Milbank	-	Multiple trees were downed by estimated seventy to eighty mph winds along with many electrical lines downed. A few fires were started by the electrical lines.
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Albee	-	Three large trees were downed by an estimated eighty mph winds.
August 2017	Flash Flood	Twin Brooks	-	Very heavy rains brought a creek out of its banks with flooding over the road.
August 2017	Hail	Milbank	-	Hail covered the entire highway.
August 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Milbank	-	Sixty mph winds were estimated.
June 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Hiland	-	Sixty mph winds downed some tree branches.
August 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Marvin	-	Sixty mph winds were estimated.
July 2015	Hail	Marvin	-	Nickel size hail damaged some nearby corn.
July 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Marvin	-	Sixty mph winds were estimated.
June 2014	Flash Flood	Milbank	-	Numerous county roads were over topped around Milbank along with a few culverts being washed out. A quick 2 to 3 inches of rain brought on the flash flooding.
August 2014	Flash Flood	Milbank	-	Very heavy rains of 4 to over 5 inches resulted in the flash flooding of a few roads north of Milbank. One road was closed for a time due to flash flooding.
June 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Twin Brooks	-	Several trees were downed along with many tree branches south of Corona.
June 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Milbank	-	Major tree and structural damage occurred in and around Milbank from eighty mph winds.
June 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Albee	-	Seventy mph winds caused some minor barn and machine shed roof damage.
June 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Milbank	-	A lot of tree damage occurred along State Highway 15 into Milbank.
June 2013	Flash Flood	Marvin	-	Over three inches of rain caused water to go over a part of Highway 123 south of Wilmot.

Mines and quarries

35 recorded

The Survey's mineral resources record lists 35 workings inside this county. 19 still produce and 16 are closed or unrecorded. Each settlement page carries the workings within five miles of it.

Commodity	Workings
Sand and Gravel, Construction	20
Granite	15

The least common of them first, because a county's hundredth gravel pit says nothing its first ten did not.

Site	Commodity	Status
American Rose Quarry	Granite	Producer
B F Coggins Granite Co Pit	Granite	Past Producer
Carnelian No 1 Quarry	Granite	Producer
Cold Spring Granite Co Quarry	Granite	Producer
Columbia Granite Quarry	Granite	Producer
D G Kaddez and Co Quarry	Granite	Past Producer
Dakota Granite Co Quarry North	Granite	Producer
Dakota Granite Co South Quarry	Granite	Past Producer
Delano Granite Quarry	Granite	Past Producer
Hunter Granite Quarry	Granite	Producer
Mahogany Quarry	Granite	Producer
Melrose Granite Quarry	Granite	Producer
North Star Granite Quarry	Granite	Producer
Sequoya Quarry	Granite	Producer
Steiner Rausch Granite Pit	Granite	Producer
Big Stone Sand and Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Big Tom Hill Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Concrete Materials Co Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Fiebelcrn Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Korstjens Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Mueller Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Stolpman Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Stolpman Pit No 2	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Trapp Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every populated place in the county

Named settlements recorded in the Geographic Names Information System, each with the topographic sheets covering it. Villages, hamlets and abandoned places alike. Each is shown with the nearest named watercourse or landform and the survey quadrangle it falls on.

Albee

Adams township · 57259 · Revillo quadrangle

6 sheets, 1953 to 1985
Big Stone City

Big Stone City city · 57216 · Ortonville quadrangle

7 sheets, 1953 to 1985
LaBolt

Georgia township · 57246 · LaBolt quadrangle

6 sheets, 1953 to 1985
Marvin

Osceola township · 57251 · Marvin quadrangle

6 sheets, 1953 to 1985
Milbank

Milbank city · 57252 · Milbank West quadrangle

6 sheets, 1953 to 1985
Revillo

Revillo town · 57259 · Revillo quadrangle

6 sheets, 1953 to 1985
Stockholm

Stockholm township · 57264 · Stockholm quadrangle

6 sheets, 1953 to 1985
Strandburg

Strandburg town · 57265 · Stockholm quadrangle

6 sheets, 1953 to 1985
Troy

Troy township · 57265 · Stockholm quadrangle

6 sheets, 1953 to 1985
Twin Brooks

Twin Brooks town · 57269 · Twin Brooks quadrangle

6 sheets, 1953 to 1985

Provenance

Topographic sheets. USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, county index, measured from the bulk metadata.
Fire insurance maps. Library of Congress Sanborn collection, faceted to this county.
Photographs. Each place queried individually against the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs search.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.