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Welcome to Cottonwood ...

The town of Cottonwood is located in Jackson County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Cottonwood, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1907.

When the people of Cottonwood refer to themselves (known as a demonym), they frequently use Cottonwoodite<2>

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Cottonwood has a population of 10 people<3> (see below for details).

Cottonwood is 2,410 feet [735 m] above sea level.<4> In other words, the altitude of Cottonwood is about ½ mile above sea level.

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

Note: If you travel east from Cottonwood (for example, toward Murdo), you will leave Mountain Time and cross into the Central Time Zone (CST/CDT).

Area Code for Cottonwood: 605

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Cottonwood had an population of 10 people. This is an increase of 11.11% since the 2010 Census (or an increase of 66.67% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Cottonwood had a population of 9 people. This makes Cottonwood the county's 8th most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 9 people, the population of Cottonwood increased 50% from the 2000 Census (which had a count of 6 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Cottonwood.

Communities Also Named Cottonwood ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 47 communities that are also named Cottonwood - they are located in Alabama (3), Alaska, Arizona (4), British Columbia, California (3), Colorado (3), Georgia, Idaho (2), Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana (2), Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada (3), New Mexico (3), Oklahoma (2), Texas (10), Utah (3) and Wisconsin.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Cottonwood.

Communities near Cottonwood ...

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

  • Wall
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wall have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wall
    • Wall is located in Pennington County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 885 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wall <6>
  • Philip
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Interior
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
  • Quinn
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Quinn have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quinn
    • Quinn is located in Pennington County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 62 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Quinn <6>
  • Weta
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Weta. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<7>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weta
    • Weta is located in Jackson County
    • Estimated population in 2014: 5 people
  • Kadoka
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Creighton
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Wasta
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wasta have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wasta
    • Wasta is located in Pennington County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 82 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wasta <6>
  • Wanblee
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wanblee have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wanblee
    • Wanblee is located in Jackson County
    • Population from the 2010 Census: 725 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wanblee <6>
  • Nowlin
    (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Nowlin. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<7>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nowlin
    • Nowlin is located in Haakon County

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 Cottonwood. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Cottonwood.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Cottonwood. 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 Cottonwood.

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

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Cottonwood ...

Looking for more information about Cottonwood? 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 Cottonwood, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Cottonwood.

Adding Cottonwood to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Cottonwood 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 for Cottonwood was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<8>

X2X - From that list, the Cottonwood post office opened in 1907.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Cottonwood.

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Cottonwood. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for State of South Dakota: https://www.sd.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of South Dakota's counties, including Jackson, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>A demonym is the name for a resident of a community which is usually derived from (or is related to) the name of that community. In other words, it's how the residents of Cottonwood refer to themselves. It's important to note that there aren't any rules for taking a town's name and turning it into a demonym. A demonym is informal and while the majority of Cottonwood may use one name, keep in mind that others may use something different.
<3>Population counts have been provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. For more detail, please visit our Census Page for Cottonwood.
<4>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Cottonwood - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<5>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<6>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<7>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<8>A copy of their list with background information can be found at:

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









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025