Hamlin

Formed January 8, 1873 (22^nd county)

Hamlin County (6,159), Hayti (392), Estelline (747)

A masonry Classical Revival facility, built in 1916, is on 4^th Street at Main Avenue.  South Dakota State Highway 21 is Main Avenue in the town.  Rose & Peterson are the courthouse architects.  Veteran memorials are on the grounds.  Hamlin County was formed on January 8, 1873 as the 22^nd county.  Spalding (1878), Estelline (1878), Castlewood (1884), and Hayti (1914) have all served as the county seat.  It is named for United States Vice President Hannibal Hamlin.  The county seat is named for the practice of tying bundles of hay to be burned. 

Hamlin County government consists of a sheriff and 5 Commissioners.  Five Circuit Court Judges and One Magistrate Court Judge serve Hamlin, Beadle, Brookings, Clark, Codington, Deuel, Grant, Hand, Jerauld, Kingsbury, Lake, Miner, Moody, and Sanborn counties.  Hamlin County is in eastern South Dakota.  Sioux Falls, South Dakota is south and Pierre, South Dakota is west of the county.  The county center is 4.4 miles Northeast of Hayti.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Codington, Deuel, Brookings, Kingsbury, and Clark counties. 

The area of the county is 511 square miles.  It is 60 out of 66 in the state.  It ranks 29 out of 66 in population in the state.  It has a density of 12.1 persons per square mile making it 18 out of 66 in the state.  Hamlin County has 48.1% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 29 clips the northeast corner of the county from Codington County, north, to Deuel County, east.  United States Highway 81 enters from the north, Codington County, and exits to the south, on the Kingsbury-Brookings county line.  The county is a rectangle.  Hayti is located slightly south of center in the county.  Estelline is in the southeast corner of the county.  Hayti is the county seat and Estelline is the largest city.  Hayti is 6.4% of the county population while Estelline is 12.1% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced HAE-TIE.  The largest city is pronounced ES-TE-LEEN.  This county is in the Watertown Metropolitan Statistical Area.