South Dakota's 1st congressional district is an obsolete

congressional district Congressional districts, also known as electoral districts in other nations, are divisions of a larger administrative region that represent the population of a region in the larger congressional body. Countries with congressional districts includ ...

that existed from 1913 to 1983. When

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, 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 Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

was admitted into the Union in 1889, it was allocated two congressional seats, both of which were elected state-wide

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather tha ...

. This continued until South Dakota received a third congressional seat after the

1910 census The 1910 United States census, conducted by the Census Bureau on April 15, 1910, determined the resident population of the United States to be 92,228,496, an increase of 21 percent over the 76,212,168 persons enumerated during the 1900 census. ...

, and individual districts were established. From 1913 until 1933, the newly created 1st District covered 21 counties in southeastern South Dakota, including the state's largest city

Sioux Falls Sioux Falls ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 117th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into northern Lincoln County. The population was 192 ...

. When South Dakota's 3rd congressional district was eliminated after the

1930 census The 1930 United States census, conducted by the Census Bureau one month from April 1, 1930, determined the resident population of the United States to be 122,775,046, an increase of 13.7 percent over the 106,021,537 persons enumerated during th ...

, the 1st District was expanded to include all of the counties in South Dakota east of the

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

. Population changes eventually reduced the district size until it again covered just 21 counties in the eastern part of the state. During the

97th Congress The 97th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from January 3, 198 ...

, it included the cities of

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

Brookings Brookings may refer to: Organizations * Brookings Institution, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy organization based in Washington, D.C. Places * Brookings, Oregon, USA * Brookings, South Dakota, USA * Brookings County, South Dakota, USA ...

, Sioux Falls, Watertown,

Vermillion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color family and pigment most often used between antiquity and the 19th century from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide). It is synonymous with red orange, which often takes a modern ...

, and Yankton.Official Congressional Directory,

(1981) It was eliminated as a result of the redistricting cycle after the

1980 census The 1980 United States census, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 226,545,805, an increase of 11.4% over the 203,184,772 persons enumerated during the 1970 census. It was the first ce ...

List of members representing the district

References

* *
Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present
{{DEFAULTSORT:South Dakota's 1st Congressional District 01 Former congressional districts of the United States Constituencies established in 1913 1913 establishments in South Dakota Constituencies disestablished in 1983 1983 disestablishments in South Dakota