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History · Spirit Mound Township

34% of Spirit Mound Township’s homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Spirit Mound and the South Dakota Department of Transportation Bridge No. 14-088-170. Below: maps from 1969 on.

2on the National Register
34%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Spirit Mound 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 Spirit Mound Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Spirit Mound Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Spirit Mound 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 so far

Spirit Mound Township, in brief

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

Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 218 in 2010, 221 in 2020.

Timeline

Spirit Mound Township, 1884 to 1969

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1884Post officeThe Bolton post office opens
  3. 1890Post officeThe Bolton post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1969On 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.

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On the map

Spirit Mound Township on the map, 1969 to 1994

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

Spirit Mound Township on the 1969 USGS mapSpirit Mound Township on the 1980 USGS mapSpirit Mound Township on the 1994 USGS map1969Vermillion 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 Spirit Mound Township.

On the National Register

2 historic places in Spirit Mound Township

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

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1974
Spirit Mound
Spirit MoundSouth Dakota Department of Transportation Bridge No. 14-088-170
SitesStructures

Architectural styles listings

Pratt through truss1
Spirit MoundSite
All 2 listings
South Dakota Department of Transportation Bridge No. 14-088-170Structure · listed 2000

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Bolton, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Gone or out of use
Bloomingdale Methodist ChurchchurchBolton Post Officepost officeSpring Hill SchoolschoolWesterville Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Spirit Mound Township
Clay CreekSpirit Mound

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.

Meckling Township2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPleasant Valley Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPrairie Center Township2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townVermillion TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBethel TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Spirit Mound Township’s history

What is on the National Register in Spirit Mound Township?

Two places: the Spirit Mound (listed 1974) and the South Dakota Department of Transportation Bridge No. 14-088-170 (2000).

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 the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.