Gregory County Courthouse

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021.

From the record

One of 12 National Register listings published here for Gregory County · listed in 2021 · category: Building.

Sources: the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Address. 221 East 8th St., Burke, 57523
When was it listed? February 2021
Category. building
Also known as. County Courthouses of South Dakota MPS
Unorganized territory. West Gregory
National Register reference number. 100006095 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.

Fires near this property

16 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 16 fires within 5 miles of Gregory County Courthouse between 2002 and 2020, burning about 163 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	13
Equipment and vehicle use	2
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
22 September 2020	Equipment and vehicle use	25 acres	South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression	ELLWANGER
29 July 2002	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Burke Volunteer Fire Department	GOLF COURSE
28 July 2006	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	5.0 acres	South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression	not named
26 July 2013	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Gregory County	JOHNSON 2
25 July 2013	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Gregory County	JOHNSON
24 July 2006	Equipment and vehicle use	1.9 acres	South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression	not named
4 June 2012	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.5 acres	South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression	VOSIKA DITCH FIRE
27 June 2002	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	2.0 acres	Burke Volunteer Fire Department	OPPERMAN

Every fire recorded in Gregory County

Mines and quarries near this property

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Gregory County Courthouse: 1 producer, 1 past producer. 1 still produces. 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
	Burke Sand & Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
	Cahill Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Gregory County

Storms near this property

48 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Burke, the town this property stands in, in 48 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 32 hail, 13 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 1 tornado. The reports record 2 injuries. 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 2019	Tornado (EF1)	Burke	2 hurt, $7,000,000	A tornado developed and touched down in the heart of town near Washington and 7th streets, causing damage to several trees at the touchdown point. Shortly after, the tornado severely damaged several structures while tracking south, including leveling several buildings at the lumber yard, destroying the civic center, and causing significant damage to the school. The start of the school year was delayed by two weeks due to extent of the damage. Two people were (directly) injured by debris when a garage collapsed on them while moving vehicles to safety. Numerous power transmission poles and lines were removed by the tornado. Around 2 miles south southeast of Burke, the tornado struck a residence causing severe damage to the roof. Shortly thereafter, the tornado lifted before reaching the intersection of 295th Street and 345th Avenue after traveling a bit less than 4 miles. The path width reached a maximum of 75 yards within the city of Burke. Up to 3000 trees were damaged by the tornado in and near Burke. Property damage costs are rough estimates.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Burke	$100,000	A metal building was destroyed by strong thunderstorm winds.
June 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Burke	$50,000	A radio antenna tower and many trees were blown down.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Burke	$25,000	Numerous large branches were brought down on power transmission lines in the city of Burke.
June 2008	Hail	Burke	$5,000	Large hail severely damaged 500 acres of oat, corn, and sunflower crops on one farm. The amount of crop damage was not known. The hail also broke windows on one side of a house on the farm, and damaged the siding and roof of the house.
July 2025	Hail	Burke	-	Hail occurred for 15 minutes, as size varied from quarters to golf balls. Most hail was quarter to half-dollar size.
September 2021	Hail	Burke	-	Hail was accompanied by strong wind, but there was no damage.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Burke	-	Winds downed at least six large pine, spruce and cedar trees.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Burke	-	Thunderstorm winds flattened corn, laying to the southwest.
July 2018	Flash Flood	Burke	-	With over 2.50 inches rainfall by 1800CST, water was flowing well over the curbs in Burke.
August 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Burke	-	Thunderstorm winds blew deck furniture across a yard and caused tree damage.
June 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Burke	-	Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including numerous limbs blown down.
August 2009	Hail	Burke	-	Large hail damaged vehicles and broke windows, and damaged area crops. The amount of local property and crop damage was not known; the hail being part of a long swath that affected part of the county. The hail was accompanied by wind gusts up to 60 mph.
August 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Burke	-	Large hail caused tree damage, including 30 year old trees blown down. The winds were accompanied by large hail, and added to crop damage in the area caused by the hail.
July 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Burke	-	A damaging thunderstorm wind gust was measured by a privately owned anemometer.
June 2008	Flash Flood	Burke	-	Heavy rain caused flash flooding of several roads and fields.
August 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Burke	-	Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including a few large limbs blown down.
April 2007	Hail	Burke	-	Large hail up to baseball size covered the ground. The hail caused extensive damage to vehicles, windows, siding, and roofs. Most of the roofs in the town of Burke were determined to need replacement as the sheeting under the shingles was severely damaged. The amount of the damage was not yet determined.
August 2005	Hail	Burke	-	Hail covered the ground.
August 2004	Hail	Burke	-	Large hail was mostly dime size, with a few golf ball size stones.
August 2002	Hail	Burke	-	Large hail caused an unknown amount of damage to windows, vehicles, and crops.
July 2024	Hail	Burke	-	no account filed
June 2021	Hail	Burke	-	no account filed
August 2019	Hail	Burke	-	no account filed
June 2017	Hail	Burke	-	no account filed
June 2013	Hail	Burke	-	no account filed
June 2013	Hail	Burke	-	no account filed
May 2010	Hail	Burke	-	no account filed
May 2010	Hail	Burke	-	no account filed
July 2008	Hail	Burke	-	no account filed
June 2008	Hail	Burke	-	no account filed
August 2008	Hail	Burke	-	no account filed
June 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Burke	-	no account filed
May 2007	Hail	Burke	-	no account filed
May 2007	Hail	Burke	-	no account filed
September 2007	Hail	Burke	-	no account filed
September 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Burke	-	no account filed
August 2005	Hail	Burke	-	no account filed
July 2004	Hail	Burke	-	no account filed
July 2004	Hail	Burke	-	no account filed
June 2003	Hail	Burke	-	no account filed
June 2003	Hail	Burke	-	no account filed
August 2002	Hail	Burke	-	no account filed
May 2000	Hail	Burke	-	no account filed
July 1999	Hail	Burke	-	no account filed
June 1999	Hail	Burke	-	no account filed
May 1998	Hail	Burke	-	no account filed
July 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Burke	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Gregory County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

3 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Herrick Elevator	6.7 miles	2003
Herrick Public School	6.9 miles	2000
Tackett Underwood Building	7.9 miles	1999

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 100006095 in Record Group 79.
Gregory County	All 12 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
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.