Meade

Formed February 7, 1889 (58^th county)

Meade County (29,851), Sturgis (7,093)

The Modern red/brown brick building was built in 1965.  It is located on Sherman Street at 5^th Street.  Interstate Highway 90 Business is two blocks north.  The courthouse was designed by Gay and Gass.  There was a classier 1894 courthouse also in Sturgis, the only county seat.  A County Administration Building, originally a school, was purchased in 2009 to support the courthouse.  The county was formed on February 7, 1889 as the 58^th county.  It is named for Civil War General George Meade.  Sturgis is named for Cavalryman Major Samuel D. Sturgis.  Meade County is the birthplace of 1 South Dakota governor, Walter D. Miller. 

Meade County government consists of a sheriff and 5 Commissioners.  Four Circuit Court Judges and One Magistrate Court Judge serve Meade, Butte, Corson, Dewey, Harding, Lawrence, Perkins, and Ziebach counties.  The county is in the western part of the state.  Rapid City, South Dakota is south and Pierre, South Dakota is east of the county.  The county center is 48.1 miles East-Northeast of Sturgis nearer Union Center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Perkins, Ziebach, Haakon, Pennington, Lawrence, and Butte counties. 

The area of the county is 3471 square miles.  It is 1 out of 66 in the state.  It ranks 6 out of 66 in population in the state.  It has a density of 8.6 persons per square mile making it 23 out of 66 in the state.  Meade County has 53.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 90 crosses the southwest part of the county from Pennington County, south, to Lawrence County, west.  United States Highway 14 is joined with Interstate Highway 90 from Pennington to Lawrence counties.  United States Highway 14 Alternate originates and heads west into Lawrence County.  United States Highway 212 crosses the north from east to west from Ziebach County to Butte County.  The county looks like a fat capital letter J.  Sturgis is on the southwest border of the county.  Sturgis is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 23.8% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced STUR-GIS.  This county is in the Rapid City Metropolitan Statistical Area.