Lead, South Dakota

Lead
City
Lead, South Dakota
Aerial photo of Lead
Location in Lawrence County and the state of South Dakota
Coordinates: 44°21′3″N 103°45′57″W / 44.35083°N 103.76583°W / 44.35083; -103.76583Coordinates: 44°21′3″N 103°45′57″W / 44.35083°N 103.76583°W / 44.35083; -103.76583
Country	United States
State	South Dakota
County	Lawrence
Incorporated	1890[1]
Area[2]
• Total	2.06 sq mi (5.34 km2)
• Land	2.06 sq mi (5.34 km2)
• Water	0 sq mi (0 km2)
Elevation	5,213 ft (1,589 m)
Population (2010)[3]
• Total	3,124
• Estimate (2015)[4]	2,999
• Density	1,516.5/sq mi (585.5/km2)
Time zone	Mountain (MST) (UTC-7)
• Summer (DST)	MDT (UTC-6)
ZIP code	57754
Area code(s)	605
FIPS code	46-36220[5]
GNIS feature ID	1265276[6]
Website	http://cityoflead.com/ www.leadmethere.org

Lead Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Show map of South Dakota Show map of the US
Location	Roughly bounded by the Lead city limits
Coordinates	44°21′6″N 103°45′45″W / 44.35167°N 103.76250°W / 44.35167; -103.76250
Area	580 acres (230 ha)
Built	1880
Architectural style	Greek Revival, Hip cottage
NRHP Reference #	74001892[7]
Added to NRHP	December 31, 1974

Buildings on Lead's western side

Lead (/ˈliːd/ LEED)^[8] is a city in Lawrence County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 3,124 at the 2010 census. Lead is located in western South Dakota, in the Black Hills near the Wyoming state line.

History

The city was officially founded on July 10, 1876, after the discovery of gold. The city was named for the leads or lodes of the deposits of valuable ores.^[9] It is the site of the Homestake Mine, the largest, deepest (8,240 feet [2,510 m]) and most productive gold mine in the Western Hemisphere before closing in January 2002. By 1910, Lead had a population of 8,382, making it the second largest town in South Dakota.^[10]

Lead was originally founded as a company town by the Homestake Mining Company, which ran the nearby Homestake Mine. Phoebe Hearst, wife of George Hearst, one of the principals, was instrumental in making Lead more livable. She established the Hearst Free Public Library in town, and in 1900 the Hearst Free Kindergarten. Phoebe Hearst and Thomas Grier, the Homestake Mine superintendent, worked together to create the Homestake Opera House and Recreation Center for the benefit of miner workers and their families. Phoebe Hearst donated regularly to Lead's churches, and provided college scholarships to the children of mine and mill workers.^[11]

In the early 1930s, due to fear of cave-ins of the miles of tunnels under Lead's Homestake Mine, many of the town’s buildings located in the bottom of a canyon were moved further uphill to safer locations.^[12]

Lead and the Homestake Mine have been selected as the site of the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory, a proposed NSF facility for low-background experiments on neutrinos, dark matter, and other nuclear physics topics, as well as biology and mine engineering studies.^[13]

In 1974, most of Lead was added to the National Register of Historic Places under the name of the "Lead Historic District". Over four hundred buildings and 580 acres (230 ha) were included in the historic district, which has boundaries roughly equivalent to the city limits.^[7]

Geography

Lead is located at 44°21′3″N 103°45′57″W / 44.35083°N 103.76583°W / 44.35083; -103.76583 (44.350967, -103.765784).^[14]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.06 square miles (5.34 km²), all of it land.^[2]

Lead has been assigned the ZIP code 57754 and the FIPS place code 36220.

Lead's proximity to Deadwood, South Dakota, often leads to the two cities being collectively named "Lead-Deadwood".

The Homestake Mine pit in Lead, South Dakota

Two prominent man-made features of Lead's geography are the giant open cut, which was used for surface gold mining by the Homestake Mine, and the resulting ridge nearby built with the non-producing material from the cut.

Climate

Demographics

2010 census

As of the census^[3] of 2010, there were 3,124 people, 1,420 households, and 828 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,516.5 inhabitants per square mile (585.5/km²). There were 1,694 housing units at an average density of 822.3 per square mile (317.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 94.6% White, 0.3% African American, 2.0% Native American, 0.4% Asian, 0.4% from other races, and 2.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.9% of the population.

There were 1,420 households of which 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.6% were married couples living together, 13.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 41.7% were non-families. 35.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.19 and the average family size was 2.82.

The median age in the city was 40.5 years. 23.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.4% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25.3% were from 25 to 44; 31.5% were from 45 to 64; and 12.7% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 50.3% male and 49.7% female.

2000 census

As of the census^[5] of 2000, there were 3,027 people, 1,279 households, and 832 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,521.5 people per square mile (587.3/km²). There were 1,617 housing units at an average density of 812.8 per square mile (313.7/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 95.74% White, 0.23% African American, 2.25% Native American, 0.20% Asian, 0.59% from other races, and 0.99% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.71% of the population. 36.5% were of German, 8.1% English, 7.8% Irish, 7.1% Norwegian and 6.7% American ancestry according to Census 2000.

There were 1,279 households out of which 33.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.8% were married couples living together, 12.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.9% were non-families. 29.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.89.

In the city the population was spread out with 26.1% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 30.2% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 13.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 100.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.8 males.

As of 2000 the median income for a household in the city was $29,485, and the median income for a family was $35,855. Males had a median income of $25,958 versus $18,841 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,726. About 10.7% of families and 12.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.7% of those under age 18 and 12.9% of those age 65 or over.

Recreation

In the summer, there are numerous trails for hiking, mountain biking, and horse back riding. The George S. Mickelson Trail, which runs from Edgemont to Deadwood, runs through the city. Several man made lakes, including Sheridan Lake provide fishing and swimming. Spearfish Canyon to the north has many places to rock climb.

During the winter there are two ski areas just a few miles outside of Lead. Terry Peak and Deer Mountain are both full service ski areas.

Local media

Notable people

Gold-quartz placer nugget, found near Lead. About 1 cm wide.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lead, South Dakota.

• City website
• Lead Tourism

Municipalities and communities of Lawrence County, South Dakota, United States
County seat: Deadwood
Cities	Central City Deadwood Lead Spearfish Whitewood
Township	St. Onge
CDPs	North Spearfish Saint Onge
Other unincorporated communities	Beaver Crossing Benchmark Brownsville Cheyenne Crossing Chinatown Englewood Galena Gayville Hanna Nemo Roubaix Terry
Ghost towns	Blacktail Carbonate Crook City Crown Hill Flatiron Greenwood Lancaster City Maitland Nahant Novak Ragged Top Terraville Tinton Trojan

State of South Dakota
Pierre (capital)
Topics	Cities Delegations Famous South Dakotans Geography Government History Timeline Towns & Villages Townships Transportation State Parks Symbols Universities Visitor attractions
Society	Culture Crime Demographics Economy Education Politics
Regions	Badlands Black Hills Coteau des Prairies Coteau du Missouri Dissected Till Plains Drift Prairie East River Pine Ridge Siouxland West River
Larger cities pop. over 5,000	Aberdeen Belle Fourche Box Elder Brandon Brookings Harrisburg Huron Madison Mitchell Pierre Rapid City Sioux Falls Spearfish Sturgis Vermillion Watertown Yankton
Smaller cities pop. 1,000 - 5,000	Baltic Beresford Britton Canton Chamberlain Clark Clear Lake Crooks Custer De Smet Deadwood Dell Rapids Eagle Butte Elk Point Flandreau Fort Pierre Freeman Garretson Gettysburg Gregory Groton Hartford Hot Springs Lead Lemmon Lennox Martin Milbank Miller Mission Mobridge North Sioux City Parkston Platte Redfield Salem Sisseton Springfield Summerset Tea Tyndall Volga Wagner Webster Winner
Largest CDPs pop. over 1,000	Blackhawk Colonial Pine Hills Dakota Dunes Fort Thompson North Eagle Butte North Spearfish Oglala Pine Ridge Porcupine Rapid Valley Rosebud
Largest towns pop. over 500	Aurora Humboldt St. Francis Wall
Counties	Aurora Beadle Bennett Bon Homme Brookings Brown Brule Buffalo Butte Campbell Charles Mix Clark Clay Codington Corson Custer Davison Day Deuel Dewey Douglas Edmunds Fall River Faulk Grant Gregory Haakon Hamlin Hand Hanson Harding Hughes Hutchinson Hyde Jackson Jerauld Jones Kingsbury Lake Lawrence Lincoln Lyman Marshall McCook McPherson Meade Mellette Miner Minnehaha Moody Oglala Lakota Pennington Perkins Potter Roberts Sanborn Spink Stanley Sully Todd Tripp Turner Union Walworth Yankton Ziebach