Gettysburg is a city and county seat of Potter County,

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large po ...

, United States, along the 45th parallel. The population was 1,104 at the 2020 census.

History

Gettysburg was

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bea ...

ted in 1884. The city was named in commemoration of the

Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of the ...

. A large share of the early settlers were

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

veterans of the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

. Gettysburg was once home to Gettysburg Air Force Station which closed in 1968.

Geography

Gettysburg is located at . According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...

, the city has a total area of , all land. Gettysburg has been assigned the ZIP code 57442 and the

FIPS place code The Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) of the United States are a set of publicly announced standards that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed for use in computer systems of non-military, American ...

24260.

Climate

With a precipitation slightly above 465 mm, the city can be considered the watershed between the dry climates of the

American West The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

to the humid climates of the American East, although closer to the former, with a center characterized by the

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate gras ...

s and medium precipitation marking the east limit of the group B of dry climates (except for the hot versions on the subcontinent) for the 99.9 °W meridian. From the climatic map of the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb ...

, Gettysburg is the easternmost city in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

with a semi-arid cold climate ( Köppen: ''Bsk''). The average high temperature is 12.7 °C and the low average is -0.4 °C, which makes temperatures below the

freezing point The melting point (or, rarely, liquefaction point) of a substance is the temperature at which it changes state from solid to liquid. At the melting point the solid and liquid phase exist in equilibrium. The melting point of a substance depend ...

predominate for at least part of the year. The annual average

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughou ...

is of 99 cm. For the official data of the

NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

/ Weather Service: the average annual precipitation is of 501 mm, by which it strengthens its role of confluence. The wettest months range from May to July ranging from 72 to 88 mm and the driest January (only 9 mm). The amount of

is average in proportion to its cold weather surpassing the 20 cm between February and March.

Demographics

2010 census

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

of 2010, there were 1,162 people, 534 households, and 310 families living in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

was . There were 617 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 97.3%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

, 0.3%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 1.2% Native American, 0.2% Asian, and 1.0% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

or Latino of any race were 0.6% of the population. There were 534 households, of which 21.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.1% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

living together, 5.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 41.9% were non-families. 37.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 21.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.08 and the average family size was 2.74. The median age in the city was 50.3 years. 19.7% of residents were under the age of 18; 4.7% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 18.1% were from 25 to 44; 29.7% were from 45 to 64; and 27.6% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.4% male and 51.6% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 1,352 people, 588 households, and 365 families living in the city. The

was 725.1 people per square mile (280.7/km²). There were 683 housing units at an average density of 366.3 per square mile (141.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 97.93%

, 1.26% Native American, 0.07% Asian, and 0.74% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 0.15% of the population. There were 588 households, out of which 26.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.9% were

living together, 6.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.9% were non-families. 36.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 20.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.21 and the average family size was 2.88. In the city, the population was spread out, with 23.9% under the age of 18, 4.0% from 18 to 24, 21.8% from 25 to 44, 24.3% from 45 to 64, and 26.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.8 males. As of 2000 the median income for a household in the city was $30,469, and the median income for a family was $37,763. Males had a median income of $26,316 versus $16,979 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the city was $16,516. About 7.9% of families and 10.7% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 14.4% of those under age 18 and 11.3% of those age 65 or over.

Controversy over Confederate Flag

In June 2020, in the midst of national and international protests in opposition to racism following the

murder of George Floyd On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's ...

, Gettysburg became the focus of controversy regarding the presence of the Confederate battle flag on the patch of the city's police department. The patch features overlapping equal-sized U.S. and Confederate flags and a civil-war era cannon along with the city's name, in a nod to the city's namesake,

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Gettysburg (; non-locally ) is a borough and the county seat of Adams County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The Battle of Gettysburg (1863) and President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address are named for this town. Gettysburg is home to ...

, site of the famous

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and for ...

. The historical reference logo for the police emblem and uniform patch was designed in 2009. George Floyd's uncle resides in Gettysburg and advocates for the logo to change for the two-person police force.

References

External links

{{Authority control Cities in South Dakota Cities in Potter County, South Dakota County seats in South Dakota Populated places established in 1884 1884 establishments in Dakota Territory