Dewey

Formed March 2, 1883 (51^st county)

Dewey County (5,242), Timber Lake (514)

The 1959 light tan brick Modern courthouse replaced a 1911 earlier structure.  The facility is on C Street between 7^th and 8^th streets.  South Dakota State Highway 20 passes three blocks to the northwest.  Marion E. Smith is the facility designer.  Dewey County was organized on March 2, 1883 as the 51^st county with Timber Lake as the only county seat.  The county is named for territory surveyor William P. Dewey.  The county seat is named for a local lake. 

Dewey County government consists of a sheriff and 5 Commissioners.  Four Circuit Court Judges and One Magistrate Court Judge serve Dewey, Butte, Corson, Harding, Lawrence, Meade, Perkins, and Ziebach counties.  The county is in northwest South Dakota.  Pierre, South Dakota is southeast and Rapid City, South Dakota is southwest of the county.  The county center is 21 miles Southeast of Timber Lake nearer Whitehorse.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Corson, Walworth, Potter, Sully, Stanley, Haakon, and Ziebach counties. 

The area of the county is 2303 square miles.  It is 6 out of 66 in the state.  It ranks 35 out of 66 in population in the state.  It has a density of 2.3 persons per square mile making it 50 out of 66 in the state.  Dewey County has 24.7% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 212 passes east to west from Potter County to Ziebach County.  The county resembles a fat pistol pointing west.  Timber Lake is located near the northern border of the county.  Timber Lake is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 9.8% of the county population.