McCook

Formed January 8, 1873 (29^th county)

McCook County (5,682), Salem (1,334)

The 1934 brown brick Art Deco courthouse replaced a classier 1884 version in Salem.  Cameron (1873), Bridgewater (1880), and Salem (1882) have all served as the county seat.  The courthouse is on a square at Essex Avenue, Main Street, Nebraska Avenue, and Washington Street.  United States Highway 81 is Nebraska Avenue.  Floyd F. Kings and Walter J. Dixon provided the designs.  Veteran memorials are in front of the courthouse.  McCook County was founded on January 8, 1873 as the 29^th county.  It is named for Territorial Governor Edwin Stanton McCook.  The county seat is named for Salem, Massachusetts. 

McCook County government consists of a sheriff and 5 Commissioners.  Six Circuit Court Judges and One Magistrate Court Judge serve McCook, Aurora, Bon Homme, Brule, Buffalo, Charles Mix, Clay, Davison, Douglas, Hanson, Hutchinson, Turner, Union and Yankton counties.  The county is in the southeast part of the state.  Sioux Falls, South Dakota is directly east and Pierre, South Dakota is northwest of the county.  The county center is 8.4 miles South-Southeast of Salem nearer Canistota.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Lake, Minnehaha, Turner, Hutchinson, Hanson, and Miner counties. 

The area of the county is 575 square miles.  It is 52 out of 66 in the state.  It ranks 30 out of 66 in population in the state.  It has a density of 9.9 persons per square mile making it 20 out of 66 in the state.  McCook County has 54.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 90 crosses east to west in the county from Minnehaha County to Davison County.  United States Highway 81 enters from the north, Miner County, and exits to the south, Turner County.  The county is a rectangle.  Salem is located in the northern third of the county.  Salem is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 23.5% of the county population.  This county is in the Sioux Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area.