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History · Stephan

Stephan’s post office opened in 1886

Most of Stephan was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Below: maps from 1953 on.

1886first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Stephan began

When was Stephan founded?

1886

The Stephan post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 68140 years
Founding year: the first Stephan post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Stephan’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 Stephan are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
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Start Stephan’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Stephan’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

Stephan, in brief

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

Stephan is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hyde County, South Dakota, United States. Stephan has been assigned the ZIP code of 57346. The population of the CDP was 68 at the 2020 census. Some say Stephan was named in honor of the martyred Saint Stephan, while others believe the community has the name of Monsignor J. A. Stephan, a local missionary. The tribal K-12 school Crow Creek Tribal School, affiliated with the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), is in the settlement.

Its first post office opened in 1886.

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

Timeline

Stephan, 1886 to 1957

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1886Post officeThe Stephan post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1953On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1957Post officeThe Stephan post office closes
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

Stephan on the map, 1953 to 1985

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

Stephan on the 1953 USGS mapStephan on the 1985 USGS map1953Huron sheet · 1:250,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Stephan.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Stephan had its own post office from 1886 to 1957.

Stephan
1886–1957
18801950today
Gone or out of use
Stephan Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Stephan
Stephan Mission

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

Questions about Stephan’s history

What year was Stephan founded?

The Stephan post office opened in 1886, 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 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.