Armstrong County is the name shared by two defunct counties that existed in

Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of No ...

and

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

from 1873 to 1879 and again from 1883 to 1952.

Armstrong County (original)

Armstrong was first created by the Dakota Territorial Legislature in 1873 in the southeastern part of the state, taking its territory from

Charles Mix County Charles Mix County is a county in the U.S. state of South Dakota. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 9,373. Its county seat is Lake Andes. The county was created in 1862 and organized in 1879. It was named for Charles Eli ...

and Hutchinson County. The county was short lived and never fully organized. In 1879 it was annexed into Hutchinson County.

Armstrong County (South Dakota)

In 1883 Dakota Territory created a new county west of the Missouri River and named it Pyatt County. The county was formed from unorganized lands and parts of

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...

, Dewey (then named

Rusk A rusk is a hard, dry biscuit or a twice-baked bread. It is sometimes used as a teether for babies. In some cultures, rusk is made of cake, rather than bread: this is sometimes referred to as cake rusk. In the UK, the name also refers to a whea ...

) and Stanley Counties. The county was never formally organized, and was attached to Stanley County for governmental purposes. In 1895, the county was renamed Armstrong in honor of Moses K. Armstrong, a pioneer in the territory who lobbied for territorial organization and later served in the Territorial Legislature and as a territorial delegate to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

. The county originally covered much of the southern part of what is now the

Cheyenne River Indian Reservation The Cheyenne River Indian Reservation was created by the United States in 1889 by breaking up the Great Sioux Reservation, following the attrition of the Lakota in a series of wars in the 1870s. The reservation covers almost all of Dewey ...

. In 1898, part of the county was annexed to Stanley County to the south. The western portion was lost when

Ziebach County Ziebach County is a county in the U.S. state of South Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,413. Its county seat is Dupree. It is the last county (or county equivalent) in the United States alphabetically. The county's per-capit ...

was created in 1911. In 1940, Armstrong was the only county in the nation without a post office. A decade later, it had the distinction of being the only county in the United States without a single civilian federal employee. Spiritual Mobilization, a group opposed to government spending, wrote a song about it:

All Hail to Armstrong, South Dakota, Land of the Free You have yet to fill your quota With a Federal Employee! No one from Agriculture? How do you farm? No one from Justice? Who keeps you from harm? No one from Veterans? By whom are you paid? No one from Commerce? How do you trade? No one from Housing? Who buildeth your shacks? No one from Treasury? Who takes your tax? No one from Post Office? Who sells your stamp supply? No one from Military? Who keeps your powder dry? And no one from Security? How, then, can you be social? If you have no single bureaucrat To decide things equivocal? Even the Department of the Interior Is from Armstrong’s roster missed. Tell me, Armstrong County, How do you exist? All Hail to Armstrong County, Where there’s no ‘share the pelf,’ And despite the Welfare Staters, Each does things for himself!

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

parts of the county were used for aerial gunnery practice. During that conflict the county lost one citizen who was killed in action. In the United States Presidential election of 1944, every eligible person in the county (100%) voted for

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

. In 1952, given its small population and with much of the best land flooded by the

Oahe Dam The Oahe Dam is a large earthen dam on the Missouri River, just north of Pierre, South Dakota, Pierre, South Dakota, United States. The dam creates Lake Oahe, the fourth-largest man-made reservoir in the United States. The reservoir stretches up ...

, the county was abolished and annexed into the southern part of Dewey County.

Politics

Demographics

References

* CensusFinder

South Dakota Census Records. (accessed October 16, 2006)] * US Bureau of the Census

SOUTH DAKOTA - Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990. (accessed October 16, 2006)] {{coord, 44.75, -101.0, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-SD Former counties of the United States 1883 establishments in Dakota Territory Populated places established in 1883 Dewey County, South Dakota