Aberdeen, South Dakota, United States

🇺🇸 Aberdeen is a city in and the county seat of Brown County, South Dakota, United States, located approximately 125 miles (201 km) north-east of Pierre. The city is the third most populous city in the state after Sioux Falls and Rapid City. Aberdeen is the principal city of the Aberdeen Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Brown and Edmunds counties. Aberdeen is considered a college town, being the home of both Northern State University and Presentation College.

Settlement Before Aberdeen or Brown County was inhabited by European settlers, it was inhabited by the Sioux Indians from approximately 1700 to 1879. Europeans entered the region for business, founding fur trading posts during the 1820s; these trading posts operated until the mid-1830s. The first "settlers" of this region were the Arikara Indians, but they would later be joined by others.

The first group of Euro-American settlers to reach the area that is now Brown County was a party of four people, three horses, two mules, fifteen cattle, and two wagons. This group of settlers was later joined by another group the following spring, and, eventually, more settlers migrated toward this general area, currently known as Columbia, South Dakota. This town was established on June 15, 1879, was settled in 1880, and was incorporated in 1882.

Creation of the town Aberdeen, like many towns of the Midwest, was built around the newly developing railroad systems. Aberdeen was first officially plotted as a town site on January 3, 1881, by Charles Prior, the superintendent of the Minneapolis office of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad, or the Milwaukee Road for short, which was presided over by Alexander Mitchell. Mitchell, Charles Prior's boss, was responsible for the choice of town names, was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, after which the town of Aberdeen, South Dakota, was named. Aberdeen was officially founded on July 6, 1881, the date of the first arrival of a Milwaukee Railroad train. Aberdeen then operated under a city charter granted by the Territorial Legislature in March 1883.

As Aberdeen grew, many businesses and buildings were constructed along Aberdeen's Main Street. However, this soon became a problem due to Aberdeen's periodic flooding, which led to it being referred to as "The Town in the Frog Pond". At first, this unique condition presented no problem to the newly constructed buildings because it had not rained very much but, when heavy rains fell, the Pond reappeared and flooded the basements of every building on Main Street, causing many business owners and home owners much turmoil. When this flooding happened, the city had one steam-powered pump that had to be used to dry out the entire area that had been flooded, which would take days, if not weeks – and more often than not, it would have rained again in this time period and caused even more flooding, even in the basements that had already been emptied of the water. When the water was gone from the basements, the city still had to deal with the mud that also resulted from the heavy rains.

The city decided in 1882 to build an artesian ditch to control the "Frog Pond" effects; the plan was later upgraded and developed into an artesian well in 1884 to combat the heavy rains and keep the basements from flooding. The artesian well was designed by the city engineers to prevent flooding and develop a water system. However, during the digging of the well, the water stream that was found underground was too powerful to be contained. The water came blasting out with violent force and had the entire Main Street submerged in up to four feet of water. The engineers realized the previous flaws of the artesian well plan and soon added a gate valve to the well to control the flow of water, giving Aberdeen its first working water supply.

Aberdeen had four different railroad companies with depots built in the newly developing town. With these four railroads intersecting here, Aberdeen soon became known as the "Hub City of the Dakotas". When looking down on Aberdeen from above, the railroad tracks converging in Aberdeen resembled the spokes of a wheel converging at a hub, hence the name "Hub City of the Dakotas". These four railroad companies are the reason why Aberdeen was able to grow and flourish as it did. The only railroad still running through Aberdeen is the BNSF Railway.

L. Frank Baum, who was later author of the book The Wizard of Oz and its many sequels, lived here with his wife and children for a few years in the early 1890s. He owned a store for over a year, which failed. He later published one of the city's then nine newspapers. The city's small amusement park has some features reflective of the Wizard of Oz series. After his sojourn in Aberdeen he moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1892.

Geography Aberdeen is located in north-eastern South Dakota, in the James River valley, approximately 11 miles (18 km) west of the river. The James River enters north-eastern South Dakota in Brown County, where it is dammed to form two reservoirs north-east of Aberdeen. The city is bisected by Moccasin Creek, a slow-moving waterway which flows south and then north-east to the James River.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 15.60 square miles (40.40 km²), of which 15.50 square miles (40.14 km²) is land and 0.10 square miles (0.26 km²) is water.

Major employers include: Avera, Saint Luke's Hospital; Aberdeen Public School District; Wells Fargo, Auto Finance; 3M; Super 8 Worldwide; Hub City Inc.; Agtegra Cooperative; Midstates Printing/Quality Quick Print; Northern State University.

Healthcare Aberdeen has two hospitals, Avera St. Luke's Hospital and Sanford Aberdeen Medical Center.

There are several nursing homes in the area, including Avera Mother Joseph Manor, Manor Care, Bethesda Home of Aberdeen, Aberdeen Health and Rehab, Angelhaus and Gellhaus Carehaus.

Air The Aberdeen Regional Airport is currently served by Delta Connection. It offers flights to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport using the Bombardier CRJ200 aircraft.

Super 8 Motels Super 8 Motels was founded in 1972 by Dennis Brown and Ron Rivett as a motel referral system, which was replaced with a franchise operation in 1973. The first Super 8, with 60 rooms, was opened in 1974 in Aberdeen and still operates today as the Super 8 Aberdeen East.

Northern State University Northern State University (NSU) is a public university that was founded in 1901 and today occupies a 72-acre (290,000 m²) campus. 2,528 students, ranging from first-year to graduate students, attended NSU for the 2006–2007 school year. The student to teacher ratio is 19:1.

NSU was originally called the Institute of South Dakota before changing its name to Northern Normal and Industrial School in 1901. It changed its name again in 1939 when it became the Northern State Teachers College, and again in 1964, becoming Northern State College before finalizing at Northern State University in 1989.

NSU offers thirty-eight majors and forty-two minors as well as other degrees, and also has nine graduate degree areas for students wishing to further their education after achieving their first degree.

Presentation College Presentation College is a Catholic college on a 100-acre (0.40 km²) campus, and was founded in 1951. Enrollment in fall 2014 was reported to be 735. PC offers 26 programs between the main Aberdeen campus and the other campuses located throughout the state. Most of the degrees offered are in the health-care field. The student to teacher ratio is 12:1. Presentation's mascot is the Saint, giving it the nickname the Presentation College Saints.

Media The American News was founded as a weekly newspaper in 1885, by C.W. Starling and Paul Ware. It is now a daily newspaper.

Arts and culture The Aberdeen Area Arts Council publishes a small monthly newspaper, ARTiFACTS, with information on area events.

The Aberdeen Community Theatre was created in 1979 and performs at the Capitol Theatre in downtown Aberdeen. The Capitol Theatre opened in 1927 and donated to the Aberdeen Community Theatre in 1991; since then more than $963,000 has been spent on renovating and preserving the historical aspect of the Capitol Theatre. Today, the Aberdeen Community Theatre performs five main-stage productions and three youth productions per year.

The South Dakota Film Festival established in 2007 is held annually in the fall. The festival has been host to Kevin Costner, Graham Greene, Adam Greenberg, CSA and many more stars of film and television. The festival's first feature film screened was Into The Wild, shot partially in SD. The festival is held at the historic Capitol Theatre.

The Northern State University Theater Department puts on plays during the school year. There are four galleries in Aberdeen: Presentation College's Wein Gallery, Northern State University's Lincoln Gallery, the Aberdeen Recreation & Cultural Center (ARCC) Gallery and the ArtWorks Cooperative Gallery located in The Aberdeen Mall.

Bowling The Village Bowl in Aberdeen is a modern bowling centre with multiple lanes. Located at 1314 8th Ave NW.

Minor league baseball Aberdeen has had three minor league baseball teams since 1920. The Aberdeen Boosters, a class D league team, played in 1920, the Aberdeen Grays, also a class D team, played from 1921 to 1923. The class C Aberdeen Pheasants from 1946 to 1971, and 1995 to 1997. The Pheasants were the affiliate of the former St. Louis Browns (and current Baltimore Orioles). Aberdeen was a stop to the majors for such notable players as Don Larsen (perfect game in the World Series), Lou Piniella (AL rookie of the year with Kansas City Royals in 1969), and Jim Palmer, Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles.

Tennis Aberdeen has 19 public tennis courts throughout the city – Melgaard Park (4), Northern State University (6), and Holgate Middle School (8).

Golf Aberdeen has three golf courses: Lee Park Municipal Golf Course, Moccasin Creek Country Club and Rolling Hills Country Club. Lee Park and Moccasin Creek are both 18-hole courses. Rolling Hills is a combined nine-hole course and housing development which opened in 2005.

Hockey/ice skating Aberdeen has several outdoor skating rinks and hockey rinks open to the public during winter months. Aberdeen is also home to the NAHL team, Aberdeen Wings.

Skateboarding/rollerblading Aberdeen has a skate park located between East Melgaard Road and 17th Ave SE at Melgaard Park. The equipment installed includes a quarter pipe, penalty box with half pyramid, bank ramp, spine, kinked rail and a ground rail.

Disc golf Aberdeen has two disc golf courses, Melgaard Park, and the Richmond Lake Disc Golf Course.

Roller Derby Aberdeen has an All-women's Roller Derby league "A-Town Roller Girlz" established in 2011, also bringing Junior Roller Derby to the area. A men's league is to follow in the midst of interest in the dynamic of the sport.

Aberdeen Family YMCA The full service YMCA includes an aquatic centre with a competitive size lap pool, zero depth entry recreation pool with play features and hot tub. There are three gyms one of which has a climbing wall. There are two racquetball courts. Saunas and steam rooms are in the men's and women's locker rooms. Over 100 group fitness classes are offered each week with child watch available (short term childcare). A wellness centre that has cardio equipment, weight machines and free weights.

Family Aquatic Center Completed in the summer of 2007, this complex includes a zero entry pool, competition lap pool, lazy river, numerous water slides, play sand area, and a concession area.

Wylie Park Recreation Area Wylie Park Recreation Area features go-kart racing, sand volleyball courts, access to Wylie Lake, camping area, picnic areas, and is connected to Storybook Land. Wylie Lake is a small man-made lake, open in the summer months for swimming, lying on the beach, and paddle boating.

Storybook Land Storybook Land is a park with attractions from several different children's storybooks. The park contains a castle, as well as a train that takes visitors through the park. There are two barns which contain petting zoos. Humpty Dumpty's Great Fall Roller Coaster was added to the park, summer 2015. Newly added is the Land of Oz, that features characters and attractions from L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Baum was a resident of Aberdeen in the 1880s. He left after a severe drought led to the failure of first, his variety store Baum's Bazaar, and then his newspaper The Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer, where he wrote an opinion column, Our Landlady.

Kuhnert Arboretum The Kuhnert Arboretum provides many new learning experiences for the residents of the Aberdeen area, including school-aged children. The Arboretum offers environmental education, a children's area, rose garden collection, recreational trails and much more.

Richmond Lake Recreation Area The Richmond Lake Recreation Area is used by all types of outdoors enthusiasts. Three separate areas in this park cater to the needs of campers, swimmers, naturalists, boaters and anglers. Campers stay in the South Unit, while the 200-acre (0.8 km²) Forest Drive Unit is a great place for wildlife viewing. The Boat Ramp Unit provides access to the more than 1,000-acre (4 km²) lake.

Richmond Lake Recreation Area's small campground offers a quiet camping experience. The park also features a wheelchair accessible camping cabin.

The park's extensive trail system features over 10 miles (16 km) of trails, including both accessible and interpretive trails. Hikers, bikers, and horseback riders can observe the abundance of prairie plants and wildlife of the area up-close.

The park has multiple private and public boat ramps as well as an accessible fishing dock. Richmond Lake has a population of walleye, northern pike, bass, perch, crappie, bluegill, catfish, and bullheads within its waters. An entrance fee is required to gain access to the water and park itself.