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History · Pringle

Pringle’s post office opened in 1895

Most of Pringle was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. Below: maps from 1956 on and the census since 1940.

1895first post office
0on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Pringle began

When was Pringle founded?

1895

The Pringle post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Rocks (1886), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 273 in 19402020 census: 109131 years
Founding year: the first Pringle post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

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

Start Pringle’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pringle’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

Pringle, in brief

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

Pringle is a town in Custer County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 109 at the 2020 census. The town is named for W. H. Pringle, a cattleman who lived in the area.

Its first post office opened in 1895. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 112 to 109 (-3%).

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

Timeline

Pringle, 1886 to 1956

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1886Post officeThe Rocks post office opens
  3. 1895Post officeThe Rocks post office closes
  4. 1895Post officeThe Pringle post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1956On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Pringle, decade by decade

Today1 recent
SDMap-doton-Pringle2004SDMap-doton-Pringle
On the map

Pringle on the map, 1956 to 1979

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

Pringle on the 1956 USGS mapPringle on the 1979 USGS map1956Pringle 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 Pringle.

People over time

Pringle, census by census

010020030019401960198020002020Peak: 273

Between 86 and 273 people in every census since 1940.

9 censuses, 1940–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Pringle’s post office has been open since 1895. Another post office, Rocks, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Rocks
1886–1895
Pringle
1895–today
18801950today

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

Questions about Pringle’s history

What year was Pringle founded?

The Pringle post office opened in 1895, 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 →
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 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.