Aberdeen

Aberdeen is a city in and the county seat of Brown County, South Dakota, United States, located approximately 125 miles (201 km) northeast of Pierre. The city population was 28,495 at the 2020 census, making it the third most populous city in the state after Sioux Falls and Rapid City. Aberdeen is the principal city of the Aberdeen Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Brown and Edmunds counties and has a population of 42,287 in 2020. Aberdeen was first officially plotted as a town site on January 3, 1881, by Charles Prior, the superintendent of the Minneapolis office of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad. 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, This town was established on June 15, 1879, was settled in 1880, and was incorporated in 1882. The only railroad still running through the city is the BNSF Railway. Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz and its many sequels, lived here with his wife and children for a few years in the early 1890s. He owned a store for over a year, which later failed, and later published one of the city's nine newspapers, which he later published in the late 1800s.

History

Aberdeen, South Dakota, was established on June 15, 1879, was settled in 1880, and was incorporated in 1882. The city was known as "The Town in the Frog Pond" due to its periodic flooding. The only railroad still running through Aberdeen is the BNSF Railway. Frank Baum, who was later author of the book The Wizard of Oz and its many sequels, lived here with his wife and children for a few years in the early 1900s. In 1999, a Learjet carrying golfing star Stewart Payne and five others crashed in a field near Mina, 10 miles (16 km) west of Aberdeen. All on board died; Stewart Payne was the only person to survive the crash. Aberdeen was officially founded on July 6, 1881, the date of the first arrival of a Milwaukee Railroad train. When looking down on Aberdeen from above, the railroad tracks converging in Aberdeen resembled the spokes of a wheel converging at a hub, hence the name "Hub City of the Dakotas". These four railroad companies are the reason why Aberdeen was able to grow and flourish as it did. In 1890, the city owned a small amusement park, which has nine small newspapers. The first "settlers" of this region were the Arikara Indians, but they would later be joined by others. A 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.

Geography

Aberdeen is located in northeastern South Dakota, in the James River valley, approximately 11 miles (18 km) west of the river. The city is bisected by Moccasin Creek, a slow-moving waterway which flows south and then northeast to the James river. It has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb/Dfa) influenced by its position far from moderating bodies of water. Extreme temperatures have ranged from 46 °F (43 °C) on January 12, 1912, and February 8, 1895, to 115°F (46 °C), as recently as January 15, 2009. Snowfall occurs mostly in light to moderate amounts during the winter, totaling 42 inches (107 cm) annually. Precipitation, at 21.8 inches (554 mm) annually, is concentrated in the warmer months. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration maintains a National Weather Service office in Aberdeen. Their area of responsibility includes northern and eastern South Dakota and two counties in west-central Minnesota. It lies in USDA Hardiness Zone 4b and has been assigned the ZIP code range 5740-157402. There are 16 days of 90 °F-plus highs and 38 days with sub-0 °C-plus lows annually. The monthly daily average temperature ranges from 12.8 °F - 72.3 °F in January to 72.4 °C (22.4°F - July) in July. It is located on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Demographics

At the 2010 census, there were 26,091 people, 11,418 households and 6,354 families residing in the city. There were 12,158 housing units at an average density of 784.4 per square mile (302.9/km²) The racial make-up of the city was 91.8% White, 0.7% African American, 3.6% Native American, 1.3% Asian and 0.2% Pacific Islander. The median income for a household was $33,276 and the median family income was $43,882. There are several churches in the area, as well as several Baptist, Lutheran, Pentecostal, and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints churches. The average household size was 2.18 and the average family size was2.86. The city's median age was 36.4 years, and the city's population was 24,658 at the 2000 census. It has a population density of 1,683.3 per sq mile (649.9 per km²) and a median income of $20,092. It is located on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada border and is on the border of the state of New Mexico, New Mexico and South Dakota. It was the site of the World War II-era Battle of the Bulge, which took place in the late 1800s. The town's name is derived from the word "bulge" which means "bullet" or "bunker".

Economy

Super 8 Motels was founded in 1972 by Dennis Brown and Ron Rivett as a motel referral system. The first Super 8, with 60 rooms, was opened in 1974 in Aberdeen and still operates today as the Super 8 Aberdeen East. Super 8 was replaced with a franchise operation in 1973. The company is now owned by a group of private equity firms, including Blackstone and KPMG, and has a network of more than 1,000 hotels. The chain has been in operation since 1973 and is one of the largest in the world, with more than 2,000 rooms. It is the second largest hotel chain in the U.S. behind Marriott and the third largest in Europe. It has more than 3,000 staff members, including 1,200 in the UK, and employs more than 10,000 people in Aberdeen. It also has a strong presence in Scotland, with the majority of its hotels being located in the city centre. The number of Super 8s in Scotland has increased by more than 50 per cent since the start of the 1990s, and is expected to increase further in the next few years. The average Super 8 room cost is around £2,000. The most popular room is the £3,000-a-night room, which is the most expensive in the country. The biggest employers in the Aberdeen area are the oil and gas industry and the construction industry, with a combined turnover of £1.2 billion. The city has the highest percentage of women in the industry, followed by the retail industry, which has the lowest percentage of female workers.

Arts and culture

Aberdeen Community Theatre was created in 1979 and performs at the Capitol Theatre in downtown Aberdeen. The South Dakota Film Festival established in 2007 is held annually in the fall. The festival's first feature film screened was Into The Wild, shot partially in SD. There are four galleries in Aberdeen: Presentation College's Wein Gallery, Northern State University's Lincoln Gallery, the Aberdeen Recreation & Cultural Center (ARCC) Gallery and the ArtWorks Cooperative Gallery located in The Aberdeen Mall. The Aberdeen Area Arts Council publishes a small monthly newspaper, ARTiFACTS, with information on area events.

Sports

Aberdeen has had three minor league baseball teams since 1920. The Village Bowl in Aberdeen is a modern bowling center with multiple lanes. There are 19 public tennis courts throughout the city. Aberdeen has two disc golf courses, Melgaard Park and the Richmond Lake Disc Golf Course. There is a skate park located between East Melgaard Road and 17th Ave SE. Aberdeen is also home to the NAHL team, Aberdeen Wings. The city has an All-women's Roller Derby league "A-Town Roller Girlz" established in 2011, also bringing Junior Roller Derby to the area. A men's league is to follow in the midst of interest in the dynamic of the sport of roller derby in the city in the near future. The Aberdeen Pheasants were the affiliate of the former St. Louis Browns (and current Baltimore Orioles) from 1946 to 1971, and 1995 to 1997. Aberdeen was a stop to the majors for such notable players as Don Larsen (perfect game in the World Series), Lou Piniella (AL rookie of the year with Kansas City Royals in 1969), and Jim Palmer, Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles. It is home to Northern State University (4) and Holgate Middle School (8) The city also has a number of public parks, such as Melgaard park, which is located on the edge of the city, and the city's largest park, the Aberdeen Ice Center, which has a skating rink and ice hockey rink.

Parks and recreation

Aberdeen has a full service YMCA with a competitive size lap pool. Wylie Park Recreation Area features go-kart racing, sand volleyball courts, and camping area. Richmond Lake has a population of walleye, northern pike, bass, perch, crappie, bluegill, catfish, and bullheads within its waters. The Kuhnert Arboretum offers environmental education, a children's area, rose garden collection, recreational trails and much more. The city is home to L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which was first published in the 1880s in the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer, a paper that Baum ran for a few years before leaving the area in the late 1800s. It is also home to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which built the Aberdeen Army Ammunition Plant in the 1930s. The U.N. World Heritage Site is located in the town's downtown area, and is open to the public for tours and guided tours of the site. It also has a National Park Service site, which is open for public tours and tours of its grounds and facilities. The town also has its own zoo, which contains petting zoos and a train that takes visitors through the park, as well as a castle and a park with attractions from several different children's storybooks. It has a small lake that is open in the summer months for swimming, lying on the beach, and paddle boating. There is also an extensive trail system with over 10 miles of trails.

Government

Aberdeen is the center of government for Brown County. The city government is overseen by a mayor/city manager and eight council members. The county commissioners include Duane Sutton, Dennis Feickert, Mike Wiese, Rachel Kippley, and Doug Fjeldheim. The state senators from Brown County include Brock Greenfield and Al Novstrup, and the state representatives included Lana Greefield, Kaleb Wies, Carl Perry and Drew Dennert. They are all in office until December 2020. In 2008, Governor Mike Rounds named Aberdeen as the South Dakota Community of the Year. It is home to Brown County offices including clerk-magistrate, county auditor, landfill office, register of deeds, county treasurer, coroner, emergency management, highway superintendent, public welfare, state's attorney, and a few others. It was named South Dakota's "Community of the year" in 2007 and 2008. It has a population of 2,000 to 3,000. It's located in the central part of the state. The town of Aberdeen is located on the banks of the Red River, which flows into the Missouri River. The Red River is a tributary of the Big Sioux River. It runs through the town of Rapid City, which is located in South Dakota. The river is a major source of water supply for the town. It also provides a source of drinking water for the city. The water supply is owned by the state of South Dakota, which has a water intake system.

Education

Aberdeen has six elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school. The public school in Aberdeen is AA under the SDHSAA. The South Dakota School for the Blind and Visually Impaired is a state special school under the direction of the South Dakota Board of Regents. Northern State University (NSU) is a public university that was founded in 1901 and today occupies a 72-acre (290,000 m2) campus. The mascot of NSU is the wolf named Thunder. Presentation College offers 26 programs between the main Aberdeen campus and the other campuses located throughout the state. The Catholic-affiliated Roncalli High School, the nondenominational Aberdeen Christian School, and Trinity Lutheran School of the WELS are located in the district. The Hub Area Technical School is located in Aberdeen. Aberdeen also has an alternative middle and high school, the Hub Area High School. The school district's enrollment for the year 2011-2012 was approximately 3,945 students, and the average class size was in the low to mid-twenties. The student to teacher ratio is 19:1. The district's mascot is the Saint, giving it the nickname the presentation College Saints. The high school is Central High School and the school district has a high school junior high, high school senior high, and a junior high high school high school middle school. It is located on a 100-acre campus and is part of the Aberdeen School District. It was originally called the Institute of South Dakota before changing its name to Northern Normal and Industrial School.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Aberdeen, Brown County, South Dakota = 99. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 60. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 99. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Aberdeen = 3 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 28,495 individuals with a median age of 40.3 age the population grows by 3.94% in Aberdeen, Brown County, South Dakota population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 1,725.19 residents per square mile of area (666.11/km²). There are average 2.58 people per household in the 575 households with an average household income of $52,664 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 3.30% of the available work force and has dropped -0.14% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 36.72%. The number of physicians in Aberdeen per 100,000 population = 218.7.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Aberdeen = 19.5 inches and the annual snowfall = 35.3 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 88. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 202. 86 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and -0.2 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 44, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Aberdeen, Brown County, South Dakota which are owned by the occupant = 77.60%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 34 years with median home cost = $94,250 and home appreciation of 1.14%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $17.29 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $3,926 per student. There are 14.5 students for each teacher in the school, 920 students for each Librarian and 381 students for each Counselor. 11.98% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 16.40% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 5.50% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).