Deuel

Formed April 5, 1862 (5^th county)

Deuel County (4,293), Clear Lake (1,218)

The 1916 masonry Classical Revival courthouse replaced an 1891 structure.  The courthouse is at 4^th Street, 4^th Avenue, 5^th Street, and 5^th Avenue.  South Dakota State Highway 15 is one block to the east.  Buechner & Orth provided the courthouse designs.  The county was founded on April 5, 1862 as an original county (5^th county.)  Gary was the first county seat until 1890 when Clear Lake assumed the role.  The county is named for settler, Jacob S. Deuel.  Clear Lake is named for a local lake. 

Deuel County government consists of a sheriff and 5 Commissioners.  Five Circuit Court Judges and One Magistrate Court Judge serve Deuel, Beadle, Brookings, Clark, Codington, Grant, Hamlin, Hand, Jerauld, Kingsbury, Lake, Miner, Moody, and Sanborn counties.  The county is located on the eastern border with Minnesota.  Sioux Falls, South Dakota is south and Pierre, South Dakota is west of the county.  The county center is 2.5 miles Southeast of Clear Lake.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Grant County and Minnesota and Brookings, Hamlin, and Codington counties. 

The area of the county is 624 square miles.  It is 49 out of 66 in the state.  It ranks 38 out of 66 in population in the state.  It has a density of 6.9 persons per square mile making it 27 out of 66 in the state.  Deuel County has 48.4% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 29 enters the county from the west, Hamlin County, and exits to the south, Brookings County.  United States Highway 212 goes east to west from Minnesota to Codington County.  The county is a tall rectangle.  Clear Lake is near the center of the county.  Clear Lake is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 28.4% of the county population.  The county is pronounced DOOEL.

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