Roberts

Formed March 8, 1883 (54^th county)

Roberts County (10,271), Sisseton (2,478)

The tan brick and stone courthouse was built in 1902.  Wilmot had an 1884 courthouse earlier.  The current courthouse is on 2^nd Avenue at Maple Street.  South Dakota State Highway 10 passes five blocks south of the site.  The building was restored in 1988.  Buechner & Jacobsen are the architects.  The structure sits on a hill and features a dome/tower.  Veteran memorials are on the grounds.  Roberts County was formed on March 8, 1883 as the 54^th county.  Travare (1883), Wilmot (1883), and Sisseton (1889) have all served as the county seat.  The county is named for fur trapper and territorial legislator, S. G. Roberts.  The county seat is named for a Native American tribe. 

Roberts County government consists of a sheriff and 5 Commissioners.  Four Circuit Court Judges and One Magistrate Court Judge serve Roberts, Brown, Campbell, Day, Edmunds, Faulk, Marshall, McPherson, Spink, and Walworth counties.  Roberts County is in the northeast corner of the state.  North Dakota is on the north and Minnesota is on the east of the county.  Sioux Falls, South Dakota is south and Pierre, South Dakota is southwest of the county.  The county center is 4.2 miles South-Southeast of Sisseton.  The county is surrounded clockwise by North Dakota and Minnesota and Grant, Day, and Marshall counties. 

The area of the county is 1101 square miles.  It is 26 out of 66 in the state.  It ranks 17 out of 66 in population in the state.  It has a density of 9.3 persons per square mile making it 21 out of 66 in the state.  Roberts County has 40.8% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 29 crosses the county from north to south from North Dakota to Grant County.  United States Highway 12 clips the southwest corner from Grant County, south, to Day County, west.  United States Highway 81 is joined with Interstate Highway 29 from North Dakota to Grant County.  The county resembles a cowboy boot with a stretched top.  Sisseton is located in the western quarter of the county.  Sisseton is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 24.1% of the county population.

Wilmot