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Named locality · SD

Gary

Deuel · USGS GNIS name record 1265643

Approximate USGS name location · 44.7925, -96.4559. This marker does not show a neighborhood boundary.
A place to beginThis source identifies a name and an approximate location. It supplies no neighborhood boundary, population estimate or assurance of current habitation.
Separate geographies · Original Census estimates

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These Census tracts have reference points near Gary. Their figures describe the entire named tract, not this locality. Open a tract to inspect its map, sources and demographic percentages.

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The source behind the name

USGS GNIS Populated Place names in all 50 states and DC. Features in the historical extract or explicitly named historical are excluded; duplicate decision records with identical identities and coordinates are collapsed. GNIS points identify names, not legal or neighborhood boundaries, current occupancy, school attendance or a statistical population. Nearby Census places and tracts remain separately named geographies. Name completeness and currency vary; this is not a claim to include every locally used neighborhood name.

Original USGS record for Gary

Dataset snapshot 2026-09-02 · Source record edited 06/07/2022 · NAD83 · approximate source location

USGS description & history

Founded in 1877 by the Winona & Saint Peter Railroad Company. The community was first known as State Line because of its location on the Minnesota-South Dakota State boundary line; then it was known as Headquarters because it served in that capacity for Colonel DeGraff, the railroad contractor. Finally the name of Gary was selected by Captain Henry H Herrick, a pioneer in the area, and C H Whitney, a postmaster in nearby Marshall, Minnesota, in honor of H B Gary, also from Marshall, Minnesota, who was an official of the Post Office Department in the early days of South Dakota's existence as a State. (SD-T17/p65) Incorporated in 1917.

Source notes may describe earlier conditions.
Source files & checksums
USGS GNIS · HistoricalFeatures

SHA-256 20c96936a3ba430b345eed1c7395b6aab52875aac8e1e2905fab37b388cab381

USGS GNIS · FeatureDescriptionHistory

SHA-256 45ad8d56b3bb4990ad8105cdda15ee7d2f07afd6941afe75b783f29b02723697

USGS GNIS · PopulatedPlaces

SHA-256 919fac887628b8547ec1b24fae319522a9481a56909c3914d1e0a2b56783147c