Big Stone City, South Dakota
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Big Stone City City. It lies in ZIP code area 57216. The Survey maps it on the Ortonville quadrangle. 412 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,043 feet above sea level.
On record in Big Stone City
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 3 records
Herman Friewald Barnlisted 2008
James A. and Ida Bell Gold Houselisted 2008- Big Stone City Halllisted 2004
Population over time
2 figuresBig Stone City fell from 467 to 412 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 467 | |
| 2020 | 412 | -55 (-12%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 7 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1953 USGS Milbank quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1953 USGS Ortonville quadrangle1:62500
- 1958 USGS Milbank quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS Ortonville quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Milbank quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
10 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 10 fires within 5 miles of Big Stone City between 1993 and 2020, burning about 514 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4 |
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Natural | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 September 1993 | Debris and open burning | 19 acres | Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge | DIMBERG-WF |
| 2 September 2015 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge | BALER |
| 29 July 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | I90-346 |
| 11 May 2004 | Natural | 354 acres | Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge | SELLIN |
| 12 April 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | TIRE FIRE |
| 1 April 2015 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge | GRAHAM |
| 6 November 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 43 acres | Waubay Wetland Management District | SDWDR-FY21-WF-STREICH |
| 29 November 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 75 acres | Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge | SW REFUGE |
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Big Stone City: 2 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Granite, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agate Quarry | Granite, Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Big Stone Sand and Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
18 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Big Stone City in 18 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 9 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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. |
| 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. |
| August 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Big Stone City | - | Estimated sixty mph winds brought down several large tree limbs. |
| June 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Big Stone City | - | An estimated 100 mph winds destroyed two garages with flying debris damaging a house northeast of the garages in Big Stone City. Extensive tree damage occurred in town with trees down and along with many branches. The main structural damage in town was shingle damage and windows blown in that were facing the wind. Some metal siding was blown off the cheese factory on the northwest side of town with the roof of a towing/repair business across the road sustaining roof damage. |
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Big Stone City | - | no account filed |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Big Stone City | - | no account filed |
| August 2025 | Hail | Big Stone City | - | no account filed |
| August 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Big Stone City | - | no account filed |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Big Stone City | - | no account filed |
| August 2021 | Hail | Big Stone City | - | no account filed |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Big Stone City | - | no account filed |
| August 2010 | Hail | Big Stone City | - | no account filed |
| August 2010 | Hail | Big Stone City | - | no account filed |
| August 2010 | Hail | Big Stone City | - | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | Big Stone City | - | no account filed |
| May 2006 | Hail | Big Stone City | - | no account filed |
| August 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Big Stone City | - | no account filed |
| August 1996 | Hail | Big Stone City | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milbank | 10.4 miles | 6 | |
| Albee | 17.2 miles | 6 | |
| Twin Brooks | 17.8 miles | 6 | |
| Revillo | 19.8 miles | 6 | |
| LaBolt | 20.1 miles | 6 | |
| Stockholm | 22.3 miles | 6 | |
| Strandburg | 23.3 miles | 6 | |
| Marvin | 23.9 miles | 6 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Big Stone City | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2318319 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1253927. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
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.




