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–Not graded
History · White Rock Township

14% of White Rock Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1915 on and the census since 1900.

0on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about White Rock 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 White Rock Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1910 and 2010, then more than doubled.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start White Rock Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how White Rock Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

White Rock Township, census by census

01002003004001900192019401960198020002020368 in 1910Low: 3

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1910 and 2010, then more than doubled.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

The story

How White Rock Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of White Rock Township.

Read it all →

A post office called White Rock was established in 1885, and remained in operation until 1965. White Rock took its name from a white granite boulder near the original town site. The namesake boulder was destroyed and a grain elevator was built at the spot. A historical marker stands at the corner of Haggert Ave. (the main east/west road along the north side of town) and 2nd St. (one of the two main north /south streets).

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

White Rock Township, 1898 to 1915

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1898Post officeThe Palm post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1905Post officeThe Palm post office closes
  5. 1910CensusPopulation peaks at 368
  6. 1915On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

White Rock Township, decade by decade

Today1 recent
SDMap-doton-WhiteRock2004SDMap-doton-WhiteRock
On the map

White Rock Township on the map, 1915 to 1972

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

White Rock Township on the 1915 USGS mapWhite Rock Township on the 1972 USGS map1915White Rock sheet · 1:62,500

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
White Rock Colony
Gone or out of use
Hahns AirportairportPalmlocaleSchool Number 1schoolSchool Number 2schoolSchool Number 3schoolSchool Number 4schoolSchool Number 5schoolSchool Number 6school
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside White Rock Township
BethaniaLake ViewSaint Joseph

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.

RosholtIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townVictor TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWhite RockIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHarmon TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about White Rock Township’s history

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), Wikipedia, 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.