Fall River

Formed April 3, 1883 (55^th county)

Fall River County (6,971), Hot Springs (3,391)

The stone Romanesque courthouse was erected in 1891.  The facility is on River Street between Battle Mountain Avenue and Main Street.  River Street is United States Highway 385.  Charles P. Brown provided the building designs.  Fall River County was established on April 3, 1883 as the 55^th county with Hot Springs as the only county seat.  The county is named for the Fall River.  The county seat is named for the local springs.  Fall River County is the birthplace of 1 South Dakota governor, Leslie Jensen. 

Fall River County government consists of a sheriff and 5 Commissioners.  Eight Circuit Court Judges and One Magistrate Court Judge serve Fall River, Custer, Oglala Lakota, and Pennington counties.  The county is located in the southwest corner of the state.  Wyoming is west and Nebraska is south of the county.  Rapid City, South Dakota is north and Pierre, South Dakota is northeast of the county. 

The area of the county is 1740 square miles.  It is 12 out of 66 in the state.  It ranks 26 out of 66 in population in the state.  It has a density of 4.0 persons per square mile making it 42 out of 66 in the state.  Fall River County has 60.8% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 18 crosses the county from east to west from Oglala Lakota County to Wyoming.  United States Highway 385 enters from the north, Custer County, and exits to the south, Nebraska.  The county is a rectangle.  Hot Springs is located near the northern border of the county.  Hot Springs is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 48.6% of the county population.  The county center is 17.9 miles South-Southwest of Hot Springs near Rumford.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Custer and Oglala Lakota counties and Nebraska and Wyoming.