Owanka, South Dakota Explained

Official Name:Owanka, South Dakota
Settlement Type:Unincorporated community
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:United States
Subdivision Type1:State
Subdivision Name1:South Dakota
Subdivision Type2:County
Subdivision Name2:Pennington
Unit Pref:Imperial
Population Footnotes:estimate from Rapid City Journal newspaper article
Population Total:2
Timezone:Mountain (MST)
Utc Offset:-7
Timezone Dst:MDT
Utc Offset Dst:-6
Pushpin Map:South Dakota
Pushpin Label Position:right
Pushpin Label:Owanka
Pushpin Map Caption:Location of Owanka in South Dakota.
Coordinates:44.0219°N -102.5873°W
Postal Code Type:ZIP code
Postal Code:57767
Area Code:605

Owanka is an unincorporated community in Pennington County, South Dakota, United States. Although not tracked by the United States Census Bureau, Owanka has been assigned the ZIP Code of 57767.[1]

History

The first settlement at Owanka was made in 1888.[2] A post office called Owanka was established in 1907.[3] Owanka is a name derived from the Sioux language, meaning "good camping ground."[4]

Now mostly a ghost town, a single family resides in Owanka. In addition to those two people, several others reside outside the town limits.[5]

South Dakota Magazine offers a photo gallery of old Owanka buildings in this article reference:[6]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Look Up a ZIP Code . USPS . 24 March 2015.
  2. Book: Federal Writers' Project. Federal Writers' Project. South Dakota place-names, v.1-3. 1940. University of South Dakota. 54.
  3. Web site: Pennington County . Jim Forte Postal History . 22 March 2015.
  4. Book: Chicago and North Western Railway Company. A History of the Origin of the Place Names Connected with the Chicago & North Western and Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railways. 1908. 111.
  5. Web site: Owanka's few and faithful like the peace and quiet . 2014-04-23 . bot: unknown . https://web.archive.org/web/20121017140301/http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/owanka-s-few-and-faithful-like-the-peace-and-quiet/article_a2c0b93c-a040-5dd1-b63b-0e3d49c1296b.html . October 17, 2012 .
  6. Web site: Owanka Ghost Town . 2014-04-23 . bot: unknown . https://web.archive.org/web/20140423213252/http://southdakotamagazine.com/owanka-ghost-town . April 23, 2014 .