Clark, South Dakota
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Clark City. It lies in ZIP code area 57225. The Survey maps it on the Clark North quadrangle. 1,148 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,798 feet above sea level.
On record in Clark
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
Clark County Courthouselisted 2002
Gov. S. H. Elrod Houselisted 1979- Clark Center Lutheran Churchlisted 2005
Population over time
2 figuresClark grew from 1,139 to 1,148 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 | 1,139 | |
| 2020 | 1,148 | +9 (+1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 8 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 Watertown quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Watertown quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1973 USGS Clark North quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Watertown quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
2 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Clark between 2006 and 2017, burning about 2 acres in total. None 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
| Debris and open burning | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 July 2006 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 29 October 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | DUNLAVEY BAIL FIRE |
Storms near this place
60 of 71 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Clark in 71 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 39 hail, 24 thunderstorm wind, 4 tornado, 1 flash flood. The reports record 1 injury. 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 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clark | 1 hurt | Seventy mph winds blew a semi off of Highway 212. The semi suffered extensive damage with the driver receiving minor injuries. |
| July 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clark | $5,000 | Thunderstorm Winds blew down several large trees. One tree in Clark fell onto a house, damaging the roof, chimney, television antenna, and a porch roof. |
| July 2025 | Lightning | Clark | $2,000 | Lightning struck the Clark water tower, destroying the generator transfer switch and the emergency services repeater. |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clark | - | A trained spotter reported a tree in their yard snapped at the base. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clark | - | Storage buildings were damaged, and hail bailers were tipped by estimated 75 mph winds. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clark | - | One inch tree limbs were broken and shingles were blown off of a roof by estimated 75 mph wind gusts. |
| May 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clark | - | Damaging winds embedded within a line of thunderstorms downed several large trees and power poles, displaced a 40 pound iron gate 40 yards, and caused minor structural damage. 500 people were without electricity after a tree took out an electric substation. |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clark | - | Estimated 80 mph winds downed multiple trees and power lines. A grain bin was destroyed and a roof was torn off a building as well. |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clark | - | Tree branches were downed by estimated 60 mph winds. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clark | - | Eighty mph winds removed a shed roof along with downing several trees. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clark | - | Seventy mph winds brought some trees down along with many tree branches in Clark. |
| September 2017 | Tornado (EF0) | Clark | - | A tornado touched downed briefly in an open field with no damage occurring. |
| July 2016 | Tornado (EF0) | Clark | - | A weak tornado touched down briefly south of Clark with no damage reported. |
| July 2010 | Hail | Clark | - | Baseball hail took out hundreds of windows in homes and on vehicles throughout Clark along with damaging siding on residences and denting vehicles. Trees and gardens also suffered extensive damage from the hail and wind. |
| May 2007 | Flash Flood | Clark | - | Heavy rains produced flash flooding of rural roads around Clark. |
| May 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clark | - | Seventy mph winds downed many branches and trees in Clark and also took the roof off of a mobile home. The power was also knocked out for several hours. |
| June 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clark | - | Sixty mph winds downed several large branches. |
| September 2006 | Tornado (F0) | Clark | - | A weak tornado touched down briefly west of Clark. The tornado caused no damage. |
| September 2006 | Tornado (F0) | Clark | - | A weak tornado touched down briefly north of Clark. The tornado caused no damage. |
| June 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clark | - | Winds gusting to 70 mph blew a large tree branch down onto a car in Clark causing extensive damage. The high winds also split 6 trees just to the north of Clark. |
| June 2025 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| July 2021 | Heavy Rain | Clark | - | no account filed |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clark | - | no account filed |
| July 2016 | Funnel Cloud | Clark | - | no account filed |
| July 2016 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| July 2016 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| September 2013 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| June 2012 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| July 2011 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| July 2011 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| July 2010 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| July 2010 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| May 2009 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| July 2009 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| July 2006 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| July 2006 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clark | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clark | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| July 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clark | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clark | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clark | - | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Hail | Clark | - | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Clark | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hillcrest Colony | 5.8 miles | 8 | |
| Silver Lake Colony | 6.2 miles | 8 | |
| Julian (historical) | 8.5 miles | 8 | |
| Elrod | 8.5 miles | 8 | |
| Garden City | 9.8 miles | 8 | |
| Merton (historical) | 10.4 miles | 8 | |
| Raymond | 11.2 miles | 8 | |
| Keefton (historical) | 11.5 miles | 8 |
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 Clark | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2781596 | 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 1265158. 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.
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.



