Beadle County is a county in South Dakota, United States, on the James River in the east-central part of the state. It had a population of 19,149 at the 2020 census and covers 1,265 square miles (3,280 km2) of the Dakota prairie, centred near 44°25′N 98°17′W.<\/p>\n
Huron is the county seat, and its postal code is 57350. The county has three incorporated cities, six incorporated towns, and several unincorporated communities. Beadle County is in the Central time zone and forms the Huron, SD Micropolitan Statistical Area.<\/p>\n
Nine incorporated places carry the bulk of Beadle County’s population, alongside a handful of unincorporated communities along the James River and the county’s rail lines. Huron, the seat, is by far the largest; the rest are small farm towns of a few hundred residents or fewer. In the table, City · seat marks the county seat, City marks other incorporated cities, Town marks incorporated towns, and Unincorp. marks unincorporated places with no city government of their own.<\/p>\n
| Place<\/th>\n | Type<\/th>\n | Pop.<\/th>\n | ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Huron<\/td>\n | City · seat<\/td>\n | 13,116<\/td>\n | 57350<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Wolsey<\/td>\n | City<\/td>\n | 445<\/td>\n | 57384<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Wessington<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 224<\/td>\n | 57381<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Iroquois<\/td>\n | City<\/td>\n | 218<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Cavour<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 146<\/td>\n | 57324<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Hitchcock<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 110<\/td>\n | 57348<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Virgil<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 93<\/td>\n | 57379<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Yale<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 39<\/td>\n | 57386<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Bonilla<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Broadland<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Sheffield<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n The old list on this page also carried “Huron Colony,” “James Valley Junction,” “Morningside,” “Pearl Creek Colony,” “Riverside Colony,” and a duplicated “Shamrock Colony” entry. These could not be independently verified as current place names in Beadle County and are omitted here; Morningside is a neighborhood within Huron rather than a separate place.<\/p>\n ZIP Codes<\/h2>\nIroquois and Sheffield’s own ZIP assignments could not be confirmed from an available source and are omitted rather than guessed.<\/p>\n Geography<\/h2>\nBeadle County sits on gently rolling prairie in east-central South Dakota. The James River flows south-southeastward through the eastern part of the county, and the terrain rises to about 1,841 feet in the west and falls to roughly 1,230 feet along the river valley. The county borders Spink County to the north, Clark County to the northeast, Kingsbury County to the east, Sanborn County to the southeast, Jerauld County to the southwest, and Hand County to the west.<\/p>\n Demographics<\/h2>\nBeadle County had 19,149 residents at the 2020 census, a density of about 15.2 people per square mile. Huron is the largest community by a wide margin, followed by Wolsey. Beadle County’s median household income runs below the South Dakota median of $71,810, reflecting its farm-town economic base outside Huron.<\/p>\n Economy & Local Life<\/h2>\nHuron anchors the county’s economy as a regional trade and processing center for the surrounding grain and livestock farms, with agribusiness, food processing, health care, and retail among its largest employers. The James Valley Christian School and South Dakota State Fairgrounds, both in Huron, are local institutions; the South Dakota State Fair is held in Huron each Labor Day week and is one of the county’s biggest annual draws. The smaller towns remain centered on grain elevators, farm supply, and local schools.<\/p>\n History<\/h2>\nBeadle County was created by the Dakota Territory legislature in 1879 and organized in 1880. It is named for William Henry Harrison Beadle, a Dakota Territory surveyor general and later state superintendent of public instruction known for his advocacy of protecting school-land trust funds. Huron grew quickly as a railroad division point on the Chicago and North Western line, which drove its early rise as the county’s dominant town.<\/p>\n Getting There<\/h2>\nU.S. Highways 14 and 281 cross at Huron, and SD Highway 37 runs north-south through the county.<\/p>\n
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