Welcome to Merritt ...

Merritt is primarily located in Lawrence County<1>. A portion of Merritt extends into Pennington County.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Merritt, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1888.

From the 2010 Census (the most recent Census number we have), Merritt had a population of 174 people.<2> (see below for details).

Merritt is 5,100 feet [1,554 m] above sea level.<3> In other words, the elevation of Merritt is about 1 mile [or ~1½ km] above sea level.

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

Area Code for Merritt: 605

Communities Also Named Merritt ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 17 communities that are also named Merritt - they are located in Alabama, British Columbia, California, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Tennessee and Washington.

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

Communities near Merritt ...

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

• Rapid City
  (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rapid City
  • Rapid City is located in Pennington County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 78,864 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rapid City <4>
• Sturgis
  (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sturgis
  • Sturgis is located in Meade County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,978 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sturgis <4>
• Lead
  (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Lead. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lead
  • Lead is located in Lawrence County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,947 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lead <4>
• Summerset
  (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerset
  • Summerset is located in Meade County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,691 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Summerset <4>
• Deadwood
  (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deadwood
  • Deadwood is located in Lawrence County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,294 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Deadwood <4>
• Gregory ‑ Historic
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gregory have been provided by the GNIS.<6> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gregory
  • Gregory is located in Lawrence County
  • Estimated population in 2014: 1,264 people
• Hill City
  (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hill City have been provided by the GNIS.<6> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hill City
  • Hill City is located in Pennington County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,074 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hill City <4>
• Piedmont
  (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piedmont
  • Piedmont is located in Meade County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 895 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Piedmont <4>
• Johnson Siding
  (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnson Siding
  • Johnson Siding is located in Pennington County
  • Population from the 2010 Census: 659 people
• Trojan
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trojan
  • Trojan is located in Lawrence County
  • Estimated population in 2014: 627 people

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

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

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

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Merritt ...

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

Adding Merritt to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Merritt 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 Merritt was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<7>

X2X - From that list, the Merritt post office opened in 1888.

We also found Merritt in the book titled Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Merritt.

Off-the-Road Links ...

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

The official website for Lawrence County: www.lawrence.sd.us/

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