Oglala Lakota County (Shannon County), South Dakota

Please add profiles of those who were born, lived or died in Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota.

The county was created as a part of the Dakota Territory in 1875, although it remains unorganized and does not have a county seat. It is entirely within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and contains part of Badlands National Park. It is one of five South Dakota counties entirely on an Indian reservation.

The Wounded Knee Massacre occurred in Oglala Lakota County in 1890.

The county is named after the Oglala Lakota, a band of the Lakota people. Many of the county's inhabitants are members of this sub-tribe. The county was originally named for Peter C. Shannon, Chief Justice of the Dakota Territory Supreme Court. Until 1982, Shannon County and Washabaugh County, South Dakota, were the last unorganized counties in the United States. Although it was organized and received a home rule charter that year, the county, as noted above, contracts with Fall River County for its Auditor, Treasurer, and Registrar of Deeds.

On November 4, 2014, voters in the county voted by a margin of 2,161 to 526 to rename Shannon County to Oglala Lakota County. The name change was ratified by the state legislature on March 5, 2015. May 1, 2015 was proclaimed by the governor as the official day for renaming the county.

Adjacent Counties

• Jackson County
• Pennington County
• Bennett County
• Sheridan County, Neb.
• Dawes County, Neb.
• Fall River County
• Custer County

Towns & Communities

• Batesland
• Denby
• Kyle
• Manderson-White Horse Creek
• Oglala
• Pine Ridge
• Porcupine
• Red Shirt
• Rockyford
• Sharps Corner
• Wounded Knee

Links

Wikipedia

Badlands National Park (part)

Wounded Knee Battlefield