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History · Langford

Langford’s post office opened in 1886, and 30% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the First Presbyterian Church of Langford. Below: maps from 1958 on and the census since 1890.

1886first post office
1on the National Register
30%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Langford began

When was Langford founded?

1886

The Langford post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Haupt (1884), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 198 in 18902020 census: 283140 years
Founding year: the first Langford post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Langford’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 Langford are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 510 in 1920; 283 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Langford’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Langford, census by census

01002003004005001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 510

Peaked at 510 in 1920; 283 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Langford’s Wikipedia page.

The story so far

Langford, in brief

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

Langford is a town in Marshall County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 283 at the 2020 census. Langford was laid out in 1886, and named in honor of Sam Langford, the original owner of the town site.

Its first post office opened in 1886. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 313 to 283 (-10%).

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

Timeline

Langford, 1884 to 1958

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1884Post officeThe Haupt post office opens
  3. 1886Post officeThe Haupt post office closes
  4. 1886Post officeThe Langford post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 510
  7. 1958On 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

Langford on the map, 1958 to 1979

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

Langford on the 1958 USGS mapLangford on the 1979 USGS map1958Langford 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 Langford.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Langford

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1991
First Presbyterian Church of Langford
First Presbyterian Church of Langford
Buildings
First Presbyterian Church of LangfordBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Langford

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

See all →
Frank FarrarAmerican politician · b. 1929
M
Med ParkAmerican basketball player · b. 1933
S
Susan WismerAmerican politician · b. 1955
P
Patricia FarrarAmerican educator · b. 1931
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Langford’s post office has been open since 1886. Another post office, Haupt, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Haupt
1884–1886
Langford
1886–today
18801950today

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

Questions about Langford’s history

What year was Langford founded?

The Langford post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Langford?

One place: the First Presbyterian Church of Langford (listed 1991).

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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 the National Register of Historic Places (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.