A vast, rugged landscape shaped Meade County's history and contemporary life. With 3,482 square miles of land and water on the northeast slope of the Black Hills, the county is South Dakota’s largest. Residents point out that Meade County is bigger than some east coast states but with a 2010 population of just 25,434—7.3 people per square mile.The 2010 U.S. Census population is the most in county history, a 4.9 increase over 2000. 

Located in western South Dakota, the county extends from the timber-rich slope of the eastern Black Hills to wide prairie grasslands broken by deep ravines and further defined by lonely buttes. The best known of these is Bear Butte, which rises 1,253 feet above the prairie (4,426 above sea level) ten miles east of Sturgis. The Belle Fourche River flows around the north edge of the Black Hills, and then west to east through Meade County, yet the county is mostly dry and better suited to livestock grazing than crop production. 

Homesteaders were encouraged to plow the land early in the 20th century, but many were driven away by drought, grasshoppers and dust storms, and sold their lands to ranch operations. Meade County ranches are large, averaging 2,513 acres, and livestock sales total nearly $60 million annually compared to about $20 million for crop sales, according to the 2007 Census of Agriculture, 

Sturgis, with a population of 6,627, is county seat. Much of the county’s population is clustered in the west along Interstate 90 through the Black Hills foothills. Sturgis, Black Hawk, Summerset, and part of Box Elder are principal communities in the west. Located nearly 100 miles from those communities, in the county’s northeast corner, the town of Faith, population 421, is a supplier of goods and services for South Dakota’s very rural northwestern region.  

The annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally brings hundreds of thousands of tourists to western South Dakota every August. The Rally is the largest single tourism event in South Dakota, and generates an economic impact of $800 million annually.

American Indians of the Great Plains camped and prayed at Bear Butte and hunted on the prairie in present day Meade County long before Euro-American trappers or gold seekers arrived in the region. They came back to Bear Butte to pray and to discuss their response to the intrusion of Americans on their lands in the 1850s and 1860s.

Black Hills gold seekers and freighters travelled through the region in the 1870s. In 1878, as part of the U.S. effort to suppress Indian resistance to the white invasion, the army established Fort Meade. The fort was named for Civil War General George Meade, who commanded union troops at Gettysburg. Ft. Meade served as an historic frontline cavalry fort and garrisoned members of the 7th Cavalry after the Battle of the Little Big Horn, as well as Buffalo Soldiers of the 10th Cavalry.

As the 20th century progressed, Meade County prospered by ranching, lumber production in the Black Hills, trans-state trucking routes, education services, retail, and light manufacturing. Black Hills tourism has been a significant economic contributor for more than a century, and especially so since the beginnings of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in 1938. Today the internationally-known rally draws hundreds of thousands of motorcyclists to the county each August.

Arts & Culture

Sturgis Motorcycle Rally attendance makes possible one of the nation’s major annual music festivals. Promoters book music acts, primarily rock and country, that draw thousands to open-air venues each August during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. 

Also in August, 84 miles to the northeast, the Faith Livestock Show and Rodeo, is a major regional draw. Some of the biggest names in country music have performed there over the years. 

In Sturgis the nonprofit Sturgis Area Arts Council promotes presentations by arts professionals as well as participation by Meade County residents in arts activities. Sturgis is home to a well-equipped, 444-seat theater in its municipal recreation complex. 

Another nonprofit organization, the Sturgis Center for the Arts, focuses on lessons in many art forms and is open to participants of all ages. The Center also showcases area artists at events that include an outdoor summer festival.

Museums, Libraries & Archives

Located in a historic building across from Fort Meade’s parade grounds, the Old Fort Meade Museum recounts the region’s military history.  It is open seven days a week in summer. The Sturgis Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame, downtown, is open year round.  Its displays include vintage bikes, as well as photos and artifacts documenting the Sturgis rally through the decades.  The Hall of Fame honors personalities from Peter Fonda to Evel Knieval.

Faith’s community center, since opening in 2004, has hosted touring museum exhibits of national caliber.  

The county’s largest library is the Sturgis Public Library, established in 1922 and now housed in the city hall complex.  It has a collection of 45,000 books as well as downloadable and other non-print resources.  Sturgis Public Library offers programming that aims to foster life-long learning.  Additionally, this library supplies a branch facility at Union Center.

With over 18,000 books, DVDs and other materials, the Faith Public/School Library is committed to meeting the needs of both Faith School District students and members of the larger community.

Historical Photos and Documents Online

The Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress has more than 460 images related to Meade County available online. They include large collections of photographs of Fort Meade National Cemetery taken by David W. Haas as part of the Historic American Landscapes Survey as well as an extensive set of construction drawings and images of Ellsworth Air Force Base from the 1950s.

The Denver Public Library has a portrait of Lieutenant James G. Sturgis available online. Lt. Sturgis died during the Battle of the Little Bighorn. The town of Sturgis is named after him.

The National Archives and Records Administration makes a number of images and digital documents related to Sturgis available online. Subjects include 1940 Census records, water pollution from the Homestake Mine in 1972 and FEMA efforts to prevent wildfires in more recent years.

Religion

The Association of Religion Data Archives lists information about Meade County residents’ religious affiliations, as of 2000. Full church members, their children, and others who attend services regularly are considered adherents, and 14,636 residents reported no adherence while 4,605 were Catholic, 2,552 were mainline Protestants, 2,109 were Evangelical Protestants, and 351 reported “other.”  To see the data for the year 2000 in a graph, click here. 

Bear Butte is a key site for prayer and other religious activity for several Great Plains American Indian peoples. Bear Butte is a South Dakota state park, and was recently listed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as one of the “11 Most Endangered Places”.

Considered a part of the Rapid City metropolitan region, Meade County's population was 25,546 as of July 1, 2011, according to estimates by the U.S. Census. This total reflected a 0.4 percent increase over the previous year.

At the time of the 2010 Census, more than 6,627 residents were concentrated in the county seat of Sturgis, and along the I-90 corridor between Sturgis and Rapid City. Meade County's population grew by 4.9 percent between 2000 and 2010. 

Meade County officials believe that many residents were not counted in the 2010 U.S. Census. According to Deputy Planning Director Bill Rich, information from the board of equalization indicates that residents of the City of Summerset were missed entirely and the City of Sturgis may have been undercounted. All totaled, county officials are asking the Census Bureau to revise the population count by adding 3,305 people to the county's reported population of 25,434. County officials commented on the issue in the Meade County Times Tribune. 

Age

The median age for Meade County residents is 35.9. Children 15 years and older accounted for 22.6 percent of the population in 2010, while persons 65 years and over made up 11.9 percent of the population. 

Race

Predominately white (92 percent), minorities in Meade County include American Indian (2.3 percent), African American (1.3 percent), Hispanics (3.0 percent) and Asian (0,6 percent).

Poverty

Meade County has a poverty rate of 10.6 percent, lower than the regional and statewide averages. According to the South Dakota Kids Count project, the estimated percentage of children under the age of 18 in poverty in Meade County rose from 13 percent to 17 percent between 2005 and 2009.

Towns and Cities in Meade County

Other communities in Meade County include: Summerset and Faith. A census profile for Faith is available from the U.S. Census. 

There are two public school districts in Meade County. Each district is governed by an elected board of education that makes district policy, but does not engage in day-to-day school operations. School board meetings are open to the public. Under special circumstances having to do with public interest or privacy rights of employees or students, the board may discuss matters in closed, executive sessions. However, any final action must happen at a public session. Both the Meade School District (www.meadek12.sd.us) and Faith School District (www.faithk12.sd.us) have posted guidelines online for citizens wishing to speak at board meetings, or to submit agenda items.

Meade County School District

Meade District 46-1 encompasses about 3,100 of Meade County’s 3,482 square miles. That makes it South Dakota’s largest school district geographically. With an enrollment of 2,462 students in grades K-12, the district ranked 12th in the state during the 2011-12 school year.

More than 1,800 of the district’s students attended school in Sturgis at Brown High School, Williams Middle School, and Sturgis Elementary. The remainder attended Piedmont Valley Elementary, one of six rural schools spread across the county, or Whitewood Elementary. Whitewood Elementary actually sits across the county line in Lawrence County, but is administered by the Meade District and enjoys a close association with schools in Sturgis.

Students in the Meade County School District take the annual Dakota STEP test to ensure that the district is making adequate yearly progress (AYP) in reading and math. According the State of South Dakota's report card, Meade County students achieved AYP in all categories in all grades tested in elementary, middle and high schools in the spring of 2011. Brown High School’s graduation rate was 75.1 percent in 2011, down from the 85.9 percent rate posted in 2010 and lower than the statewide average of 83.3 percent.

During the 2010-2011 academic year, the Meade County School District's fall enrollment was 2443 in grades K-12. With a 2.8 percent dropout rate, the district graduated 146 students. One hundred and two students took the ACT exam. The average composite score was 21.6. To view a statistical profile of funding, student and staff data, see the South Dakota Department of Education's 2010-2011 Profile of Meade School District.

Governance and Budget

The Meade County Board of Education is composed of nine publicly elected members. Board meetings are usually the second Tuesday of each month, 6:30 pm, at Sturgis Williams Middle School. Agendas are available the Friday before meetings and may be picked up at school district administrative offices, or found online at www.meadek12.sd.us. For the 2011-12 school year, the school board estimates total expenditures of about $22.7 million.

Faith School District

In the county’s northeast corner, Faith School District 46-2 served 210 students K-12 in 2011-12. Though many students commute long distances from remote ranches and farms, the district is unable to provide bussing. Instead mileage payments are made to parents. A new building for all grade levels will open in time for the 2012-13 school year. For eight years students attended classes in seven modular buildings after the original Faith School, built in 1910, was condemned in 2004.

Students in the Faith School District take the annual Dakota STEP test to ensure that the district is making adequate yearly progress (AYP) in reading and math. According the State of South Dakota's report card, Faith students achieved AYP in all categories in all grades tested in elementary, middle and high schools in the spring of 2011. Faith's high school graduation rate was 100 percent in 2011, the same as posted in 2010 and higher than the statewide average of 83.3 percent.

During the 2009-2010 academic year, the Faith School District's fall enrollment was 199 in grades K-12. With a 0.0 percent dropout rate, the district graduated 21 students. Nineteen students took the ACT exam. The average composite score was 20.3. To view a statistical profile of funding, student and staff data, see the South Dakota Department of Education's 2009-2010 Profile of Faith School District.

Governance and Budget

Five Faith School District board members are elected for three year terms. Board meetings are scheduled for the second Monday of each month, 7 pm, usually at the Faith Community Hall and occasionally at the rural school in Maurine. Agendas can be picked up at school district administrative offices in Faith, or found online at www.faithk12.sd.us. The budget for 2011-12 school operations is about $2.2 million. (Source: Faith School District business office.)

Meade County government supports economic development with an aggressive five-year property tax abatement for new and expanding business construction, and citizens county-wide understand the bulk of construction will happen in the west along Interstate 90—in and near Sturgis, Summerset, Black Hawk and Box Elder. 

Law enforcement, emergency medical transportation, and road maintenance are obviously of equal concern county-wide, and county government at times has had to work hard to find ways for maintaining quality services in sparsely populated areas. 

Issues that have prompted considerable public comment in recent years have included zoning related to the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, and possible development adjacent to Bear Butte, a sacred site for several native peoples. The National Trust for Historic Preservation lists Bear Butte as one of “11 Most Endangered Places.”

Governance

Meade County is governed by an elected Board of Commissioners. Members represent five unique districts within the county and serve four year terms. Commission meeting agendas and minutes are available online. 

Regular commission meetings are scheduled for the first consecutive Tuesday and Wednesday of each month.  Wednesday is most commonly used for public input.  Tuesday sessions start at 8:30 am. Wednesday sessions begin at 10 am and sometimes extend into the evening for public input. Special meetings can also be announced and conducted. The commission meets at the Erskine Building, 1300 Sherman Street, Sturgis.  

The commission regularly appoints citizens to advisory boards addressing planning, resource conservation, mental health, housing and redevelopment, juvenile detention, and much more.  County residents wishing to serve may complete a citizen interest application found at www.meadecounty.org.  Committee openings are announced through the press and may be found at the above address under press releases.

Budget

For calendar year 2012 the commission approved a total county budget of $16,939,556.  (Source, county auditor’s office)  The public can see the budget document at the county auditor’s office, 1300 Sherman Street, Sturgis, Monday-Friday from 8 am – 5 pm. During the budgeting process in late 2011, there was talk among commissioners about finding ways in the future to lower county taxes and expenditures, possibly by reducing county employment and overtime pay. Rising insurance costs for county employees have been a budgeting difficulty.

In a 2012 wellness report, the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute ranked Meade County 34th of 59 South Dakota counties studied. The primary care physician to patient ratio was 1,037:1, far below the national benchmark of 631:1. Twenty percent of adults reported themselves as smokers. Residents reported slightly lower rates of poor physical and mental health days than the state average. Rates of adult obesity and excessive drinking were well below the statewide average. The teen birth rate was just below the statewide rate. Like the state as a whole, 15 percent of the adults in Meade County did not have health insurance. To compare Meade County data to other counties, visit the site created by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin.

County-level health statistics are also available from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and allow you to compare Meade County to similar counties in the United States and to the national median.

Meade County's median income exceeds most other counties in the Black Hills region and has risen from $36,992 in 2000 to $44,568 in 2009. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the county's total labor force in December 2011 was 12,020, with 635 people or 5.3 percent listed as unemployed. Nearly four out of ten workers in Meade County are employed by various federal, state or local government agencies, including nearly 750 people who work at the Fort Meade Veterans Affairs facilities in Sturgis and another 578 who work for Black Hills Special Services. For an in-depth economic profile of Meade County, visit the South Dakota Governor's Office of Economic Development.

Agriculture & Resources

Meade County was the state's largest producer of horses and ponies in 2007, according to the U.S. Census of Agriculture. It also led the state in the production of hay and forage and was fourth among all counties in the United States. Livestock accounted for 74 percent of the market value of all agricultural products produced in the county. For more statistics on Meade County agriculture, see the county's profile from the Census of Agriculture above.