Central City, South Dakota
17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1894 and the latest in 1961. It stands in Central City City. It lies in ZIP code area 57754. It lies near Sawpit Gulch. The Survey maps it on the Lead quadrangle. 93 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,892 feet above sea level.
On record in Central 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 1 record
St. Lawrence O'Toole Catholic Churchlisted 2003
Population over time
2 figuresCentral City fell from 134 to 93 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 | 134 | |
| 2020 | 93 | -41 (-31%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 17 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.
- 1894 USGS Deadwood quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1900 USGS Spearfish quadrangle1:62500
- 1901 USGS Deadwood quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1915 USGS Spearfish quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1916 USGS Deadwood quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1953 USGS Rapid City quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Rapid City quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Lead quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
Fires near this place
146 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 146 fires within 5 miles of Central City between 1992 and 2020, burning about 12,441 acres in total. 43 started naturally. None was 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 43 |
| Debris and open burning | 27 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 21 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 19 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 14 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 10 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 5 |
| Fireworks | 3 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Firearms and explosives use | 1 |
| Other causes | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2000 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | WAR EAGLE 2 |
| 8 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 7 September 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Montana/Dakotas State Office | SHEEPTAIL GULCH |
| 7 September 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | PARTY |
| 6 September 1997 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | PARTY |
| 5 September 1995 | Natural | 2.0 acres | Black Hills National Forest | ANCHOR HILL |
| 30 September 2013 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | SKATEBOARD |
| 30 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | WASHINGTON CA |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 271 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 271 workings within 5 miles of Central City: 180 past producers, 43 producers, 26 unknowns, 11 occurrences. 49 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Silver, Gold, Silver, Tungsten. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belle Eldridge Gold Mine Inc. | Lead, Silver, Zinc | Past Producer | 1878, 1937 | |
| Belle Eldridge Gold Mines | Gold, Silver, Lead, Zinc, Copper | Past Producer | 1890 | |
| Custer Peak Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Durango Mine | Tungsten, Gold, Silver | Past Producer | Gold, Silver, Wolframite | |
| Golden Reward Mine | Gold, Silver, Tellurium | Past Producer | Replacement | |
| Hardin Properties | Gold, Iron, Sulfur | Occurrence | ||
| Hidden Fortune Mine | Tungsten, Gold, Silver | Past Producer | Replacement | |
| Homestake Filtration Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Iron Hill | Zinc, Silver, Silica, Manganese, Lead, Iron, Gold, Sulfur, Phosphorus-Phosphates | Past Producer | 1881, 1885 | |
| Iron Pit | Sodium | Producer |
Storms near this place
15 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Central City in 15 storm reports between 2008 and 2024: 11 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 heavy rain, 1 flash 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2010 | Hail | Central City | $100,000 | Golf ball sized hail damaged automobiles and buildings in Central City. |
| August 2024 | Flash Flood | Central City | $2,000 | Thunderstorms during the evening hours dumped two to five inches of rain in less than three hours over portions of northern Lawrence County. Runoff from the heavy rain caused minor street flooding in Deadwood and a small portion of Crook Mountain Road to be inundated with water and debris. |
| July 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Central City | - | Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph. |
| May 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Central City | - | Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph. |
| August 2013 | Heavy Rain | Central City | - | Water covered U.S. Highway 14A between Lead and Central City for a short time. |
| July 2024 | Hail | Central City | - | no account filed |
| May 2020 | Hail | Central City | - | no account filed |
| July 2019 | Hail | Central City | - | no account filed |
| July 2019 | Hail | Central City | - | no account filed |
| August 2018 | Hail | Central City | - | no account filed |
| June 2013 | Hail | Central City | - | no account filed |
| August 2012 | Hail | Central City | - | no account filed |
| July 2012 | Hail | Central City | - | no account filed |
| July 2012 | Hail | Central City | - | no account filed |
| August 2008 | Hail | Central 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terraville | 0.5 miles | 17 | |
| Blacktail | 0.7 miles | 17 | |
| Gayville | 0.7 miles | 17 | |
| Lancaster City (historical) | 0.9 miles | 20 | |
| Lead | 1.0 miles | 17 | |
| Pluma | 1.9 miles | 20 | |
| Kirk | 1.9 miles | 17 | |
| Cartesville (historical) | 2.0 miles | 17 |
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 Central City | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3240478 | 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 1261434. 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.







