Beresford, South Dakota
city in South Dakota, United States of America
Beresford (; BEERZ-fərd) is a city in Lincoln and Union counties in the U.S. state of South Dakota. The population was 2,180 as of the 2020 census. The southern two-thirds is part of the Sioux City metropolitan area, while the northern one-third is part of the Sioux Falls metropolitan area. The Beresford Republic is the weekly newspaper.
History
Beresford was originally called Paris, and under the latter name was laid out in 1873. The city was renamed after Lord Charles Beresford and was formally incorporated on July 12, 1884.
Following the end of the Civil War, thousands of people settled in Dakota Territory during the years 1871 and 1872. If certain requirements (laid out in the Homestead Act of 1862) were met, the government gave title to the land to the homesteaders. Those who settled faced many hardships; however, by settling and starting farms to transform the land into a productive agricultural area.
In 1872, the family of Eli Ricard was the first to settle on a homestead in section five of Prairie Township of what is now Union County.
“Beresford, South Dakota” enters the record as city in South Dakota, United States of America. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Beresford, South and Dakota can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Beresford, South Dakota” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Beresford, South and Dakota provides the most credible route into that argument.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q287417. VIAF identifies the subject as 135226603. The Library of Congress control number is no2005010270. Authority coordinates are 43.081, -96.776. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 1873, 1884 and 1871.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Beresford, South Dakota” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.