The Aurora County Courthouse is located at 410 North Main Street in Plankinton, SD 57368. The county was named for Aurora, the Roman era goddess of the dawn. It was created as part of the Dakota Territory in 1879 and organized in 1881.
. Photo: The William P. Smith House, circa 1914, craftsman bungalow, 306 North Third Street, Stickney, SD
TOWNS
Aurora County [†], South Dakota, was created in 1879 and organized in 1881. The last groups of American Indians to inhabit the area were the Lakota, Nakota and Dakota, collectively referred to as the Sioux. The Sioux were pushed onto reservations by the end of the 19th century opening up thousands of acres of land. The railroad soon followed bringing settlers to the area during the Great Dakota Land Boom of the 1880s. The town of Stickney was platted and incorporated in 1905, the same year the railroad arrived. Agriculture is the primary economic activity of the area.
† Chris Nelson, South Dakota State Historic Preservation Office, William P. Smoth House, nomination document, 2003, National Register of Historic Places, accessed August, 2022.
HISTORIC SITES