Get a Virtual Phone Number for Aberdeen, South Dakota

Aberdeen is a city in the county seat of Brown County, South Dakota, about 125 miles (201 km) northeast of Pierre. The city population was 26,091 at the 2010 census, making it the third largest city in the state. Aberdeen is the principal city of the Aberdeen Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Brown and Edmunds counties and has a population of 40,602 as of 2010. Aberdeen is considered a college town, being the home of both Northern State University and Presentation College. Before Aberdeen or Brown County was inhabited by European settlers, it was inhabited by the Sioux Indians from approximately 1700 to 1879. Europeans entered the region for business, founding fur trading posts during the 1820s; these trading posts operated until the mid-1830s. The first "settlers" of this region were the Arikara Indians, but they would later be joined by others. The first group of Euro-American settlers to reach the area that is now Brown County was a party of four people, three horses, two mules, fifteen cattle, and two wagons. This group of settlers was later joined by another group the following spring, and, eventually, more settlers migrated toward this general area, currently known as Columbia, South Dakota. This town was established on June 15, 1879. The town was settled in 1880, and incorporated in 1882.