Jackson

Formed March 2, 1883 (52^nd county)

Jackson County (2,807), Kadoka (544)

A brown stone Prairie style facility is the Kadoka courthouse.  The structure was built in 1977 to replace a wooden 1915 building.  It is located on Main Street between Maple and Chestnut streets.  South Dakota State Highway 73 is six blocks west of the location.  Keith Brakke provided the courthouse designs.  Veteran memorials are on the courthouse grounds.  The county was created on March 2, 1883 as the 52^nd county with Kadoka as the only county seat.  The county is named for settler and state legislator, J. R. Jackson.  Kadoka is a Native American wording meaning “opening.” 

Jackson County government consists of a sheriff and 5 Commissioners.  Three Circuit Court Judges and One Magistrate Court Judge serve Jackson, Bennett, Gregory, Haakon, Hughes, Hyde, Jones, Lyman, Mellette, Potter, Stanley, Sully, Todd, and Tripp counties.  Jackson County is in the southwest part of the state.  Rapid City, South Dakota is northwest and Pierre, South Dakota is northeast of the county.  The county center is 10.5 miles Southwest of Kadoka nearer Weta.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Haakon, Jones, Mellette, Todd, Bennett, Oglala Lakota, and Pennington counties. 

The area of the county is 1869 square miles.  It is 10 out of 66 in the state.  It ranks 50 out of 66 in population in the state.  It has a density of 1.5 persons per square mile making it 58 out of 66 in the state.  Jackson County has 23.7% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 90 travels through the county from east to west from Jones County to Pennington County.  United States Highway 14 clips the northwest corner from Haakon County, north, to Pennington County, west.  The county resembles a small letter r.  Kadoka is located in the northeast quarter of the county.  Kadoka is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 19.4% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced KA-DOE-KA.

Kadoka