Lyman

Formed January 8, 1873 (28^th county)

Lyman County (3,722), Kennebec (279), Presho (472)

The stone Classical Revival courthouse was erected in 1923.  The courthouse is on Main Street at 2^nd Street.  The facility is two blocks east of South Dakota State Highway 273.  The courthouse designers were Chynoweth, Rettinghouse, Perkins and McWayne.  The building was renovated in 1993.  The county was established on January 8, 1873 as the 28^th county.  Oacoma was the first county seat until 1923 when Kennebec became the seat.  Lyman County is named for W. P. Lyman.  The county seat comes from the legend that a wagon stuck in the mire “can no back.” 

Lyman County government consists of a sheriff and 5 Commissioners.  Three Circuit Court Judges and One Magistrate Court Judge serve Lyman, Bennett, Gregory, Haakon, Hughes, Hyde, Jackson, Jones, Mellette, Potter, Stanley, Sully, Todd, and Tripp counties.  The county is located in the central part of the state.  Pierre, South Dakota is directly north and Rapid City, South Dakota is west of the county.  The Missouri River forms its northern and eastern borders.  The county center is 3.4 miles East of Kennebec.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Hughes, Hyde, Buffalo, Brule, Charles Mix, Gregory, Tripp, Mellette, Jones, and Stanley counties. 

The area of the county is 1640 square miles.  It is 14 out of 66 in the state.  It ranks 43 out of 66 in population in the state.  It has a density of 2.3 persons per square mile making it 51 out of 66 in the state.  Lyman County has 34.0% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 90 crosses the county east to west from Brule County to Jones County.  United States Highway 83 enters from the north, Stanley County, and joins Interstate Highway 90 into Jones County.  United States Highway 183 originates and travels south into Tripp County.  The county resembles a fat pistol pointing south.  Kennebec is located near the center of the county.  Presho is in the western quarter of the county.  Kennebec is the county seat and Presho is the largest city.  Kennebec is 7.5% of the county population while Presho is 12.7% of the county population.  The county is pronounced LIE-MAN.  The county seat is pronounced KEN-NE-BEK.  The largest city is pronounced PRESH-OE.

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