Davison County, South Dakota

The area's first settlement occurred in 1871 in "Firesteel Creek"; the settlers were Herman Cady Greene and John Head. Greene brought lumber from Yankton in 1872 and built a frame house. The small community which grew around this house was called Firesteel. It became part of a county created by the territorial legislature in 1873.

In 1881 the territorial legislature met and considered two bills redefining the boundaries of Hanson and Davison Counties. They considered adjusting the two counties' boundaries by either combining the two, or changing their method of separation. A public vote determined to add four townships to the west, and split the two previous counties down the middle.

The settlement originally called "Arlandton" was renamed "Mount Vernon" in 1882; by 1883 it boasted a hardware store, a livery stable, lumber yard, drugstore, cigar maker, and a hotel.^[5]

During the latter part of the nineteenth century the county was served by railroad spur lines.^[6] By the mid-twentieth century, those lines had been abandoned and removed.^[7]

The terrain of Davison County consists of rolling hills. Its area is largely devoted to agriculture. The James River flows south-southeastward through the NE portion of the county. A local drainage flows eastward through the upper quarter of the county, terminating in Lake Mitchell, north of the city of Mitchell.^[7] The terrain slopes to the east, and rises toward its SW corner. Its highest point is on the western portion of its southern border, at 1,667 ft (508 m) ASL.^[8]

The county has a total area of 437 square miles (1,130 km²), of which 436 square miles (1,130 km²) is land and 1.4 square miles (3.6 km²) (0.3%) is water.^[9] It is the fourth-smallest county in South Dakota by area.

• Interstate 90
• South Dakota Highway 37
• South Dakota Highway 42

• Jefferson Lines

As of the 2020 census, there were 19,956 people, 8,581 households, and 4,983 families residing in the county.^[15] The population density was 45.8 inhabitants per square mile (17.7/km²). There were 9,484 housing units.

As of the 2010 census, there were 19,504 people, 8,296 households, and 4,892 families in the county. The population density was 44.8 inhabitants per square mile (17.3/km²). There were 8,852 housing units at an average density of 20.3 per square mile (7.8/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 94.4% white, 2.5% American Indian, 0.5% Asian, 0.4% black or African American, 0.1% Pacific islander, 0.5% from other races, and 1.6% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.5% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 51.8% were German, 10.6% were Norwegian, 10.1% were Irish, 7.4% were English, 6.0% were Dutch, and 4.5% were American.

Of the 8,296 households, 28.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.6% were married couples living together, 8.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 41.0% were non-families, and 34.3% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 2.91. The median age was 37.8 years.

The median income for a household in the county was $41,867 and the median income for a family was $54,677. Males had a median income of $37,688 versus $26,223 for females. The per capita income for the county was $22,794. About 6.9% of families and 13.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.1% of those under age 18 and 10.4% of those age 65 or over.

• Mitchell (county seat)
• Mount Vernon

• Ethan

• Loomis

Davison County voters traditionally vote Republican in presidential elections, but Bill Clinton managed to pick up a plurality of the county's vote in 1992, and 20 years earlier it gave a majority of its votes to losing Democratic candidate George McGovern, who was brought up in the county seat of Mitchell.

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Davison County, South Dakota