Welcome to Florence ...
So far, we found very little information about Florence. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>
We've added Florence to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Florence, please Contact Us.
Florence would have been located within present day Hand County<2>.
The location of Florence has been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (ie- the GNIS).<3>
While we don't have a date for the founding of Florence, you might consider that their post office opened in 1883.
From the 2010 Census (the most recent Census number we have), Florence had a population of 374 people.<4> (see below for details).
While the community is gone, the present day location for Florence is 1,510 feet [460 m] above sea level.<5>.
Time Zone: The area where Florence was located is in the Central Time Zone (CST/CDT) and observes daylight saving time
Florence would have been located in the (605) area code.
Communities Also Named Florence ...
While we believe that this Florence is located in Hand County, we know of another 2 South Dakota communities named Florence. Those communities are located in the following counties: Codington and Pennington County.
Beyond South Dakota, there are 63 communities that are also named Florence - they are located in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida (3), Georgia (2), Idaho, Illinois (2), Indiana, Iowa, Kansas (3), Kentucky (2), Louisiana (2), Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan (2), Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri (2), Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey (2), New Mexico, New York, North Carolina (2), Nova Scotia, Ohio (4), Oklahoma, Ontario (3), Oregon, Pennsylvania (2), South Carolina, Tennessee (2), Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia (2) and Wisconsin.
For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Florence.
Communities near Florence ...
We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Florence.
- Miller
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Miller
- Miller is located in Hand County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,306 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Miller <6>
- Polo
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest) - Saint Lawrence
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Lawrence have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Lawrence
- Saint Lawrence is located in Hand County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 181 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Saint Lawrence <6>
- Miranda
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Miranda
- Miranda is located in Faulk County
- Estimated population in 2014: 122 people
- Zell
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast) - Orient
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orient
- Orient is located in Faulk County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 62 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Orient <6>
- Ree Heights
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ree Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ree Heights
- Ree Heights is located in Hand County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 58 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ree Heights <6>
- Rockham
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rockham have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockham
- Rockham is located in Faulk County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 33 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rockham <6>
- Wessington
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wessington have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wessington
- Wessington is located in Beadle County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 179 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wessington <6>
- Spottswood
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spottswood have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spottswood
- Spottswood is located in Spink 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 Florence. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Florence.
Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Florence. 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 Florence.
We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Florence. See our Newspapers Page for Florence.
Adding Florence to Our Gazetteer ...
We originally found mention of Florence in the GNIS. For more information, see the Referenced GNIS Codes section on our Miscellaneous Page.
From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Florence was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<7>
From that list, the Florence post office opened in 1883.
We also found Florence in the book titled Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895).
For more details, see References and Mentions for Florence.
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of South Dakota: sd.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Florence, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <2> | If you're interested in how the shape of South Dakota's counties, including Hand, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. |
| <3> | 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. |
| <4> | Population counts have been provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. For more detail, please visit our Census Page for Florence. |
| <5> | The elevation is an estimate for the area around Florence - it will be higher in some places and lower in others. |
| <6> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <7> | A copy of their list with background information can be found at: https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/ |