Fairfax, South Dakota
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Fairfax Township. It lies in ZIP code area 57335. The Survey maps it on the Bonesteel quadrangle. 96 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,949 feet above sea level.
On record in Fairfax
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
Gregory County State Banklisted 1998
Population over time
2 figuresFairfax fell from 115 to 96 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 | 115 | |
| 2020 | 96 | -19 (-17%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 9 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.
- 1955 USGS Mitchell quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1959 USGS Mitchell quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1964 USGS Bonesteel quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Lake Andes quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
- 1990 USGS Mitchell quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
1 since 2015Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Fairfax in 2015, burning about 1 acre 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 |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 March 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
Storms near this place
20 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Fairfax in 20 storm reports between 2000 and 2022: 14 hail, 6 thunderstorm wind. 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 2008 | Hail | Fairfax | $100,000 | Large hail damaged crops in the area, but the amount of crop damage was not known. The hail also damaged roofs, siding, and windows, especially on farm buildings and vehicles. The hail also dented vehicles. |
| July 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fairfax | $6,000 | Grain bin damaged and outbuildings. |
| July 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fairfax | - | A thunderstorm wind gust of 63 mph was measured by personal weather station E7290 1 mile west-southwest of Fairfax. Crop damage is an estimate from insured losses. Information provided by the United States Department of Agriculture. |
| August 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fairfax | - | Personal weather station EW7290 near Fairfax measured a peak wind gust of 73 mph. |
| July 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fairfax | - | Four to six inch diameter tree branches downed. |
| July 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fairfax | - | Measured at CWOP station E7290. |
| March 2011 | Hail | Fairfax | - | Quarter size hail produced a light accumulation. Winds were strong but not damaging. |
| August 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fairfax | - | Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including branches blown down. |
| March 2009 | Hail | Fairfax | - | Large hail was accompanied by estimated 50 mph wind gusts. |
| June 2008 | Hail | Fairfax | - | Large hail covered the ground. The hail damaged crops in the area, but the amount of crop damage was not known. |
| June 2008 | Hail | Fairfax | - | Large hail caused severe damage to crops in the area. The amount of crop damage was not known. |
| July 2004 | Hail | Fairfax | - | Large hail caused significant crop damage. The amount of damage was not known. |
| July 2004 | Hail | Fairfax | - | Large hail caused significant crop damage. The amount of damage was not known. |
| July 2004 | Hail | Fairfax | - | Large hail caused significant crop damage. The amount of damage was not known. |
| August 2002 | Hail | Fairfax | - | Large hail covered the ground. |
| May 2007 | Hail | Fairfax | - | no account filed |
| September 2005 | Hail | Fairfax | - | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Hail | Fairfax | - | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Hail | Fairfax | - | no account filed |
| August 2000 | Hail | Fairfax | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bonesteel | 4.5 miles | 9 | |
| Saint Charles | 11.7 miles | 8 | |
| Fort Randall | 14.0 miles | 10 | |
| Herrick | 17.0 miles | 8 | |
| Burke | 23.9 miles | 8 | |
| Lucas | 25.1 miles | 9 | |
| Carlock | 29.2 miles | 8 | |
| Gregory | 32.0 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 Fairfax | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2002333 | 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 1254979. 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.




