The Crooks post office opened in 1904, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, New Hope (1875), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 594 in 19802020 census: 1,362122 years
How historic is Crooks?
C−
More historic than 18% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Crooks post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Crooks’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Crooks is more historic than 18% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Crooks’ 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 Crooks’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (15% of South Dakota towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to C. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 Crooks’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Crooks yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Crooks is a city in Minnehaha County, South Dakota, United States and is a suburb of Sioux Falls. The population was 1,362 at the 2020 census. Crooks was named New Hope until 1904. The town's present name honors W. A. Crooks, a local politician.
Its first post office opened in 1904. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,269 to 1,362 (+7%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Crooks, 1875 to 1962
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Crooks post office opened in 1904, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Crooks rank for history?
Crooks is more historic than 18% 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.
How old are the homes in Crooks?
12% of Crooks’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.8 points), against a typical 10% for a South Dakota town; the median home was built in 1991.
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 (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
2023
