RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of South Dakota >> Meade County >> Bear ButteIndex...

Welcome to Bear Butte ...

Bear Butte is located in Meade County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Bear Butte, you might consider that their post office opened in 1925.

Bear Butte is 2,850 feet [869 m] above sea level.<2> In other words, the elevation of Bear Butte is about ½ mile above sea level.

Time Zone: Bear Butte lies in the Mountain Time Zone (MST/MDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Code for Bear Butte: 605

Communities near Bear Butte ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Bear Butte.

  • Sturgis
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Summerset
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
  • Whitewood
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Piedmont
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
  • Newell
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Nisland
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Vale
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Tilford
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Tilford is located in Meade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tilford
  • Centennial City ‑ Historic
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Centennial City is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centennial City
  • Crook City
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Crook City is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crook City

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Bear Butte. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Bear Butte.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Bear Butte. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Bear Butte.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Bear Butte. See our Newspapers Page for Bear Butte.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Bear Butte ...

Looking for more information about Bear Butte? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Bear Butte, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Bear Butte.

Adding Bear Butte to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Bear Butte in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found (so far) for Bear Butte was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<4>

From that list, the Bear Butte post office opened in 1925. The Bear Butte post office closed in 1953.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Bear Butte.

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of South Dakota's counties, including Meade, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Bear Butte - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>A copy of the Blevins & Helbock Post Office list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/