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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.

Big Stone City within Grant County

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

Population over time

2 figures

Big 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.

YearPeople Change
2010467
2020412-55 (-12%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 7 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

10 since 1993

Regional 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/undetermined4
Debris and open burning3
Arson/incendiarism2
Natural1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
30 September 1993Debris and open burning19 acresBig Stone National Wildlife RefugeDIMBERG-WF
2 September 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreBig Stone National Wildlife RefugeBALER
29 July 2014Missing data/not specified/undetermined9.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionI90-346
11 May 2004Natural354 acresBig Stone National Wildlife RefugeSELLIN
12 April 2014Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionTIRE FIRE
1 April 2015Debris and open burning10 acresBig Stone National Wildlife RefugeGRAHAM
6 November 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined43 acresWaubay Wetland Management DistrictSDWDR-FY21-WF-STREICH
29 November 2017Arson/incendiarism75 acresBig Stone National Wildlife RefugeSW REFUGE

Every fire recorded in Grant County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Agate QuarryGranite, Stone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Big Stone Sand and Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Grant County

Storms near this place

18 since 1996

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
April 2023FloodBig 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 2022Thunderstorm WindBig 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 2020Thunderstorm WindBig Stone City-Estimated sixty mph winds brought down several large tree limbs.
June 2012Thunderstorm WindBig 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 2025Thunderstorm WindBig Stone City-no account filed
July 2025Thunderstorm WindBig Stone City-no account filed
August 2025HailBig Stone City-no account filed
August 2022Thunderstorm WindBig Stone City-no account filed
May 2022Thunderstorm WindBig Stone City-no account filed
August 2021HailBig Stone City-no account filed
August 2021Thunderstorm WindBig Stone City-no account filed
August 2010HailBig Stone City-no account filed
August 2010HailBig Stone City-no account filed
August 2010HailBig Stone City-no account filed
June 2007HailBig Stone City-no account filed
May 2006HailBig Stone City-no account filed
August 1996Thunderstorm WindBig Stone City-no account filed
August 1996HailBig Stone City-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Grant County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Milbank10.4 miles6
Albee17.2 miles6
Twin Brooks17.8 miles6
Revillo19.8 miles6
LaBolt20.1 miles6
Stockholm22.3 miles6
Strandburg23.3 miles6
Marvin23.9 miles6

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 CityAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2318319The 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.