Davison County is a county in the U.S. state of South Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,956, making it the 10th most populous county in South Dakota.^[1] Its county seat is Mitchell.^[2] The county was created in 1873 and organized in 1874.^[3] It was named for Henry C. Davison, the first settler in the county.^[4]

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Davison County
County
Davison County Courthouse in Mitchell
Location within the U.S. state of South Dakota
South Dakota's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 43°41′N 98°10′W
Country	United States
State	South Dakota
Founded	1873 (created) 1874 (organized)
Seat	Mitchell
Largest city	Mitchell
Area
• Total	437 sq mi (1,130 km2)
• Land	436 sq mi (1,130 km2)
• Water	1.4 sq mi (4 km2)  0.3%
Population  (2020)
• Total	19,956
• Estimate  (2023)	19,922
• Density	46/sq mi (18/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	At-large
Website	www.davisoncounty.org

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Davison County is part of the Mitchell, SD Micropolitan Statistical Area.

The area's first settlement occurred in 1871 in "Firesteel Creek"; the settlers were Herman Cady Greene and John Head. Greene brought lumber from Yankton in 1872 and built a frame house. The small community which grew around this house was called Firesteel. It became part of a county created by the territorial legislature in 1873.

In 1881 the territorial legislature met and considered two bills redefining the boundaries of Hanson and Davison Counties. They considered adjusting the two counties' boundaries by either combining the two, or changing their method of separation. A public vote determined to add four townships to the west, and split the two previous counties down the middle.

The settlement originally called "Arlandton" was renamed "Mount Vernon" in 1882; by 1883 it boasted a hardware store, a livery stable, lumber yard, drugstore, cigar maker, and a hotel.^[5]

During the latter part of the nineteenth century the county was served by railroad spur lines.^[6] By the mid-twentieth century, those lines had been abandoned and removed.^[7]

The terrain of Davison County consists of rolling hills. Its area is largely devoted to agriculture. The James River flows south-southeastward through the NE portion of the county. A local drainage flows eastward through the upper quarter of the county, terminating in Lake Mitchell, north of the city of Mitchell.^[7] The terrain slopes to the east, and rises toward its SW corner. Its highest point is on the western portion of its southern border, at 1,667 ft (508 m) ASL.^[8]

The county has a total area of 437 square miles (1,130 km²), of which 436 square miles (1,130 km²) is land and 1.4 square miles (3.6 km²) (0.3%) is water.^[9] It is the fourth-smallest county in South Dakota by area.

Davison County voters traditionally vote Republican in presidential elections, but Bill Clinton managed to pick up a plurality of the county's vote in 1992, and 20 years earlier it gave a majority of its votes to losing Democratic candidate George McGovern, who was brought up in the county seat of Mitchell.

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Davison County, South Dakota