Davis, South Dakota
10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Davis town. It lies in ZIP code area 57021. It stands on Hurley Creek. The Survey maps it on the Lennox quadrangle. 54 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,250 feet above sea level.
On record in Davis
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 2 records
Population over time
2 figuresDavis fell from 85 to 54 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 | 85 | |
| 2020 | 54 | -31 (-36%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 10 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.
- 1897 USGS Canton quadrangle1:125000
- 1900 USGS Canton quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Sioux Falls quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Sioux Falls quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Lennox quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Rock Rapids quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
31 since 1999Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 31 fires within 5 miles of Davis between 1999 and 2020, burning about 294 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 | 19 |
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | TREETOP |
| 31 August 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | ROUNDBALE |
| 30 July 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Viborg Volunteer Fire Department | LEFTY JORGENSEN |
| 23 July 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 9 June 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | TERRA |
| 4 June 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | STALK |
| 3 June 2003 | Other causes | 2.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 31 May 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | GFPGROUND2 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Davis: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stewart Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
22 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Davis in 22 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 8 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 4 flood, 3 tornado. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2003 | Tornado (F2) | Davis | $500,000 | A tornado, after crossing into Turner County from Lincoln County, heavily damaged farm buildings, including one farm home demolished, and roof and window damage to at least two other farm homes. The tornado also caused an unknown amount of crop damage. |
| July 2005 | Hail | Davis | $150,000 | Large hail fell over an area roughly 7 miles long and 3 miles wide. The hail covered the ground and roads over much of the area, with some of the hail accumulation still visible 10 hours after the hail ended. The hail caused widespread and severe crop damage, affecting over 13 thousand acres of corn, soybean, and alfalfa crops. Crops in several areas were totally wiped out, while other crops were partially damaged. The hail also caused damage to numerous buildings and vehicles, many of them in Centerville. Some of the larger hailstones caused holes in roofs. In addition, siding was damaged, and there were many broken windows. |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Davis | $50,000 | Thunderstorm wind gusts caused extensive structural damage to a house when the back wall was blown out of a garage. Property damage costs are a rough estimate. |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Davis | $5,000 | Thunderstorms winds removed shingles from a portion of the roof of a house. Property damage costs are a rough estimate. |
| June 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Davis | $300 | Thunderstorm winds damaged large trees. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Davis | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts tore the roof off a house and uprooted a large tree. |
| June 2024 | Flood | Davis | - | The Vermillion River near Davis rose above flood stage the morning of June 19th, cresting around 6.9 feet above flood stage (17.9 feet) on June 22nd. This crest is in the Major Stage and broke the previous record. The river then fell below flood stage on the morning of June 30th. For a more comprehensive description of flood damage, please see other entries for Turner County. |
| June 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Davis | - | South Dakota RWIS station SD519 9 miles east of Davis measured a peak wind gust of 58 mph. |
| September 2018 | Flash Flood | Davis | - | Water remained over 461st Avenue north of Davis. |
| June 2014 | Flood | Davis | - | Repeated heavy rains caused minor to moderate flooding of the Vermillion River, affecting agricultural land and some roads. The river crested at 1.6 feet above flood stage at Davis on June 18th. |
| May 2013 | Flood | Davis | - | Heavy rain caused minor farmland and other lowland flooding of the Vermillion River. The river crested at 2.0 feet above flood stage near Davis on May 28th. |
| April 2007 | Flood | Davis | - | Heavy rain at the end of March led to minor flooding along the Vermillion River. Some lowlands were flooded but no significant damage was reported. |
| April 2005 | Flash Flood | Davis | - | Runoff from heavy rain caused flooding of low areas and some roads, including Turner County Road 41. |
| May 2004 | Tornado (F0) | Davis | - | A brief tornado caused no reported damage. |
| June 2003 | Tornado (F0) | Davis | - | A weak tornado tracked across farmland. |
| July 2023 | Hail | Davis | - | no account filed |
| June 2017 | Hail | Davis | - | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Hail | Davis | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Davis | - | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Hail | Davis | - | no account filed |
| October 2002 | Hail | Davis | - | no account filed |
| July 1995 | Hail | Davis | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hooker | 4.3 miles | 11 | |
| Hurley | 5.3 miles | 11 | |
| Viborg | 7.5 miles | 11 | |
| Chancellor | 7.9 miles | 10 | |
| Centerville | 9.7 miles | 10 | |
| Parker | 12.2 miles | 11 | |
| Cameron Colony | 14.9 miles | 11 | |
| Spring Valley | 14.9 miles | 11 |
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 Davis | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q576976 | 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 1254609. 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.





