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History · South Shore

South Shore’s post office opened in 1888, and 31% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1973 on and the census since 1910.

1888first post office
0on the National Register
31%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How South Shore began

When was South Shore founded?

1888

The South Shore post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 335 in 19102020 census: 189138 years
Founding year: the first South Shore post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about South Shore’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 South Shore are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of South Shore’s homes were built before 1963.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start South Shore’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how South Shore’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

South Shore, in brief

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

South Shore is a town in Codington County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 189 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Watertown, South Dakota Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Its first post office opened in 1888. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 225 to 189 (-16%).

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

By decade

South Shore, decade by decade

Today1 recent
SDMap-doton-SouthShore2004SDMap-doton-SouthShore
On the map

South Shore on the map, 1973 to 1985

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

South Shore on the 1973 USGS mapSouth Shore on the 1985 USGS map1973South Shore 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 South Shore.

People over time

South Shore, census by census

0100200300192019401960198020002020Peak: 335

Between 189 and 335 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Questions about South Shore’s history

What year was South Shore founded?

The South Shore post office opened in 1888, 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 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.