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History · Owanka Township

Owanka Township’s post office opened in 1907

Below: maps from 1954 on.

1907first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY 4.0
Quick answers

How Owanka Township began

When was Owanka Township founded?

1907

The Owanka Township post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 22119 years
Founding year: the first Owanka Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Owanka 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 Owanka Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Owanka Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Owanka 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

How Owanka Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Owanka Township.

Read it all →

The first settlement at Owanka was made in 1888. A post office called Owanka was established in 1907. Owanka is a name derived from the Sioux language, meaning "good camping ground."

Now mostly a ghost town, a single family resides in Owanka. In addition to those two people, several others reside outside the town limits.

South Dakota Magazine offers a photo gallery of old Owanka buildings in this article reference:

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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.

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On the map

Owanka Township on the map, 1954 to 1979

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

Owanka Township on the 1954 USGS mapOwanka Township on the 1979 USGS map1954Owanka 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 Owanka Township.

Places that used to be

Old corners and burying grounds

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Owanka
1cemetery inside Owanka Township
Owanka

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.

Wasta Township3 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCrooked Creek TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Owanka Township’s history

What year was Owanka Township founded?

The Owanka Township post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 Wikipedia, 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.