Mitchell is a city in and the
county seat of
Davison County,
South Dakota, United States.
The population was 15,660 at the
2020 census making it the
sixth most populous city in South Dakota.
Mitchell is the principal city of the
Mitchell Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Davison and
Hanson counties.
History
The first settlement at Mitchell was made in 1879. Mitchell was incorporated in 1883.
It was named for Milwaukee banker
Alexander Mitchell, President of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad (
Milwaukee Road
The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States, Midwest and Pacific Northwest, Northwest of the United States fr ...
).
Geography
Mitchell is located at (43.713896, -98.026282),
on the
James River
The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...
.
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.
Mitchell has been assigned the
ZIP code 57301 and the
FIPS place code 43100.
Climate
Mitchell has a humid continental climate, the
Upper Midwest, with cold winters and warm sometimes humid summers. Average daytime summer temperatures range from 86 °F (30 °C) during the day, and 62 °F (16 °C) during the night, and winter daytime temperatures average 26 °F (-3 °C) during the day, and 4 °F ( -15 °C) during the night. Most of the precipitation falls during the summer months, the wettest month being June, with an average of 3.52 inches (89.4 mm) of rain, and the driest month is January, with only 0.47 inches (11.9 mm) of rain. Mitchell is located in Tornado Alley, so thunderstorms, often spawning tornadoes, can be expected.
Demographics
2010 census
As of the
census of 2010, there were 15,254 people, 6,696 households, and 3,641 families living in the city. The
population density was . There were 7,120 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 93.6%
White, 0.5%
African American, 3.0%
Native American, 0.5%
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0.1%
Pacific Islander, 0.6% from
other races, and 1.8% from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race were 1.7% of the population.
There were 6,696 households, of which 26.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.1% 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 t ...
living together, 9.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 45.6% were non-families. 38.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.16 and the average family size was 2.88.
The median age in the city was 36.8 years. 22.6% of residents were under the age of 18; 12.5% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 22.8% were from 25 to 44; 23.9% were from 45 to 64; and 18.2% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.8% male and 51.2% female.
2000 census
As of the
census of 2000, there were 14,558 people, 6,121 households, and 3,599 families living in the city. The
population density was 1,475.7 people per square mile (569.5/km
2). There were 6,555 housing units at an average density of 664.4 per square mile (256.4/km
2). The racial makeup of the city was 95.63%
White, 0.32%
African American, 2.40%
Native American, 0.45%
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0.03%
Pacific Islander, 0.29% from
other races, and 0.87% from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race were 0.77% of the population.
There were 6,121 households, out of which 28.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.6% 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 t ...
living together, 9.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.2% were non-families. 34.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27 and the average family size was 2.95.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 24.1% under the age of 18, 13.4% from 18 to 24, 25.3% from 25 to 44, 19.6% from 45 to 64, and 17.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.4 males.
As of 2000 the median income for a household in the city was $31,308, and the median income for a family was $43,095. Males had a median income of $30,881 versus $20,794 for females. The
per capita income for the city was $17,888. About 8.8% of families and 12.8% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 12.7% of those under age 18 and 10.9% of those age 65 or over.
Attractions

Mitchell is home of the
Corn Palace. The Corn Palace is decorated with several colors of dried corn and grains, creating murals. The theme of the external murals is changed yearly at fall harvest; internal murals are changed approximately every ten years. The building itself is used for several purposes including a basketball arena, the local high school prom, trade shows, staged entertainment, and the Shriner's Circus.
Mitchell is also the home of the
Dakota Discovery Museum, whose mission is to present and preserve the history of the prairie and the people who settled it. The museum covers the time period from 1600, when the Native Americans were still largely undiscovered, to 1939, the end of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
. The museum holds one of the most complete and pristine collections of American Indian quill and bead-works. The Dakota Discovery Museum also features artists such as
Harvey Dunn,
James Earle Fraser,
Charles Hargens and
Oscar Howe. In the village area behind the main building are four authentic historical buildings, including an 1885 one-room school house and the fully furnished 1886 Victorian-Italianate home of the co-founder of the Corn Palace, Louis Beckwith. Two new features of the museum are Discovery Land, a hands-on activity area for children ages five to ten, and the Heritage Gardens Project, which brings indigenous plants to the gardens surrounding the museum and historical buildings.
Th
Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village an archaeological site where scientists are excavating a Native American village, is another attraction in the city. The site, near Lake Mitchell, is believed to have been occupied by ancestors of the present-day
Mandan, who now reside in
North Dakota. The excavation is unique in that it is enclosed by an Archeodome, a climate-controlled building built over the site, which allows scientists to continue their excavation work year-round.
The Mitchell area also boasts several state
champion trees:
Black Cherry,
Black Locust,
Siberian Elm, and
Tulip Tree
''Liriodendron'' () is a genus of two species of characteristically large trees, deciduous over most of their populations, in the magnolia family (Magnoliaceae).
These trees are widely known by the common name tulip tree or tuliptree for their ...
.
Mitchell was featured in the seventeenth episode of the Small Town News Podcast, an improv comedy podcast that takes listeners on a fun and silly virtual trip to a small town in America each week, in which the hosts improvise scenes inspired by local newspaper stories.
Education
The campus of
Dakota Wesleyan University
Dakota Wesleyan University (DWU) is a private Methodist university in Mitchell, South Dakota. It was founded in 1885 and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The student body averages slightly fewer than 800 students. The campus of the ...
is located in southwest Mitchell.
Sports
The
South Dakota Gold
The South Dakota Gold were a short-lived professional basketball team based in Mitchell, South Dakota. They played one season in the International Basketball Association (IBA).
History
Before the 2000–01 IBA season the Black Hills Gold, a franc ...
was a professional
basketball club that competed in the
International Basketball Association in the 2000–01 season.
Media
AM Radio
FM Radio
Newspaper
''
The Mitchell Republic
The ''Mitchell Daily Republic'' is a daily newspaper published in Mitchell, South Dakota. The paper's circulation is reported to be 9,859 and primarily serves Davison County, South Dakota. It was founded in 1934 and is currently owned by the Fo ...
'' is Mitchell's twice weekly print and daily e-paper, owned by the
Forum Communications Company
Forum Communications Company is an American multimedia and technology company headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota. With multiple online and print news brands throughout Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, Forum Communications off ...
.
Notable people

*
Ordell Braase, former NFL player and broadcaster
*
Israel Greene, adjutant of the Confederate Marine Corps
*
James S. Hyde James S. Hyde (May 20, 1932 - August 13, 2022) was an American biophysicist. He held the James S. Hyde chair in Biophysics at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) where he specialized in magnetic resonance instrumentation and methodology developm ...
, biophysicist
*
Dusty Johnson, US Congressman, former
PUC Commissioner, and chief of staff to the Governor
*
John Bailey Jones
John Bailey Jones (March 30, 1927 – January 30, 2023) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota.
Early life, education, and career
Born in Mitchell, South Dakota, Jones was in the ...
, retired
United States federal judge
*
Mike Miller, former NBA
basketball player, was 2000-01
NBA Rookie of the Year, 2005–06
NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award
The National Basketball Association's Sixth Man of the Year Award is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given since the 1982–83 NBA season to the league's best performing player for his team coming off the bench as a substit ...
winner and a two-time NBA champion.
*
George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern (July 19, 1922 – October 21, 2012) was an American historian and South Dakota politician who was a U.S. representative and three-term U.S. senator, and the Democratic Party presidential nominee in the 1972 pres ...
, former
Representative and
Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
from South Dakota and
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...
Democratic nominee for
President, grew up in Mitchell, and lived there until his death in 2012.
*
Adam Morrison,
basketball player, briefly lived in Mitchell as a young child while his father was coaching at Dakota Wesleyan.
*
Gary Owens, voice actor and Disc Jockey
*
David Rumelhart
David Everett Rumelhart (June 12, 1942 – March 13, 2011) was an American psychologist who made many contributions to the formal analysis of human cognition, working primarily within the frameworks of mathematical psychology, symbolic artif ...
, Cognitive Psychologist who co-developed key neural network AI method
Backpropagation with
Geoffrey Hinton and
Ronald J. Williams
*
Howard Rushmore
Howard Clifford Rushmore (July 2, 1913 – January 3, 1958) was an American journalist, nationally known for investigative reporting. As a communist, he reported for ''The Daily Worker''; later, he became anti-communist and wrote for publications ...
, journalist and investigative reporter
* Leonard "Bud" Williams, Veteran of WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, retired as a Lt. Colonel from the US Army, prior to serving eight years as mayor. https://sdexcellence.org/Leonard_(Bud)_Williams_1993
References
External links
Mitchell, SD government websiteMitchell Daily Republic- Local newspaper
Vintage Postcards of Mitchell*
{{Authority control
Cities in South Dakota
Cities in Davison County, South Dakota
County seats in South Dakota
Micropolitan areas of South Dakota