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History · Blackpipe Township

20% of Blackpipe Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1969 on.

0on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Blackpipe Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Blackpipe Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Blackpipe Township’s homes were built before 1956.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Blackpipe Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Blackpipe Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Blackpipe Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Blackpipe Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Blackpipe is an unincorporated community in Bennett County, South Dakota, United States. GNIS also states a post office was there in 1940. Prior to the opening of a convenience store in 2014, residents had to travel across county lines to Parmelee or White River to get gas. The store was funded by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the Four Band Community Fund, Inc. in Eagle Butte.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 60 to 55 (-8%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Blackpipe Township, 1925 to 1969

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1925Post officeThe Kary post office opens
  3. 1946Post officeThe Kary post office closes
  4. 1969On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Blackpipe Township on the map, 1969 to 1983

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Blackpipe Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Blackpipe Township on the 1969 USGS mapBlackpipe Township on the 1983 USGS map1969Parmelee NE sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Blackpipe Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Blackpipe Township

Nobody well known was born in Blackpipe Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
James AbourezkAmerican politician · b. 1931
J
J.R. RigginsAmerican politician
N
Nellie Star Boy MenardSicangu Lakota [Rosebud Sioux] quiltmaker · b. 1910
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Kary, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Gone or out of use
Karylocale
1cemetery inside Blackpipe Township
Saint John Lutheran

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Norris TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSurprise Valley TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Blackpipe Township’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.