Its Register listings are the Gov. S. H. Elrod House and the Clark County Courthouse. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1880.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Clark is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Clark’s overall grade.
South Dakota towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical South Dakota town has 37.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Clark’s 14.7 sits near the middle of its state (49% of South Dakota towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.7 points).
Founding year: the first census (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Clark’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
A post office was established at Clark in 1880. Clark was platted in 1882. The city took its name from Clark County. An early variant name was Clark Center.
In 1882, railroad tracks were first built through the middle of Clark. The Burlington Northern railroad and County Highway 212 ran parallel to one another and divided Clark into halves - the north half and the south half. Highway 212 similarly runs through the middle of Clark, and provides a direct travel route starting in Minneapolis, Minnesota, into Clark, then went to the Black Hills and to Yellowstone National Park.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Clark post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Clark rank for history?
Clark is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Clark?
Two places: the Gov. S. H. Elrod House (listed 1979) and the Clark County Courthouse (2002).
How old are the homes in Clark?
25% of Clark’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.7 points), against a typical 10% for a South Dakota town; the median home was built in 1965.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1883
1916
1916
