thumb|right|Buildings on Lead's western side

Lead ( ) is a city in Lawrence County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 2,982 at the 2020 census. Lead is located in western South Dakota, in the Black Hills near the Wyoming state line.

History

The city was officially founded on July 10, 1876, after the discovery of gold. The city was named for the leads or lodes of the deposits of valuable ores. It is the site of the Homestake Mine, the largest, deepest () and most productive gold mine in the Western Hemisphere before closing in January 2002. By 1910, Lead had a population of 8,382, making it the second-largest town in South Dakota.

Lead was founded as a company town by the Homestake Mining Company, which ran the nearby Homestake Mine. Phoebe Hearst, wife of George Hearst, one of the principals, was instrumental in making Lead more livable. She established the Hearst Free Public Library in town, and in 1900 the Hearst Free Kindergarten. Phoebe Hearst and Thomas Grier, the Homestake Mine superintendent, worked together to create the Homestake Opera House and Recreation Center for the benefit of miner workers and their families. Phoebe Hearst donated regularly to Lead's churches, and provided college scholarships from Lead–Deadwood school, with a staff of over 130, to the children of mine and mill workers.

In the early 1930s, due to fear of cave-ins of the miles of tunnels under Lead's Homestake Mine, many of the town's buildings located in the bottom of a canyon were moved further uphill to safer locations.

Lead and the Homestake Mine are the site of the Sanford Underground Research Facility, or Sanford Lab, a DOE facility for low-background experiments on neutrinos, dark matter, and other nuclear physics topics, as well as biology and mine engineering studies.

In 1974, most of Lead was added to the National Register of Historic Places under the name of the "Lead Historic District". Over four hundred buildings and were included in the historic district, which has boundaries roughly equivalent to the city limits.

Two prominent manmade features of Lead's geography are the giant open cut, which was used for surface gold mining by the Homestake Mine, and the resulting ridge nearby built with the non-producing material from the cut.

Climate

Lead has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) with warm summers and cold, very snowy winters with the typical extremely variable temperatures of the western Great Plains.

Its high elevation in the Black Hills makes Lead one of the wettest places in South Dakota and among the snowiest places in the contiguous United States with a mean snowfall of .

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Lead had a population of 2,982. The median age was 42.1 years. 22.8% of residents were under the age of 18 and 17.8% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 99.7 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 98.0 males age 18 and over.

As of the 2020 census, 99.6% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.4% lived in rural areas.

As of the 2020 census, there were 1,403 households in Lead, of which 25.6% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 36.2% were married-couple households, 25.2% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 29.9% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 37.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

! Race !! Number !! Percent

|-

| White || 2,642 || 88.6%

|-

| Black or African American || 11 || 0.4%

|-

| American Indian and Alaska Native || 73 || 2.4%

|-

| Asian || 19 || 0.6%

|-

| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 6 || 0.2%

|-

| Some other race || 34 || 1.1%

|-

| Two or more races || 197 || 6.6%

|-

| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 143 || 4.8%

|}

2010 census

At the 2010 census there were 3,124 people in 1,420 households, including 828 families, in the city. The population density was . There were 1,694 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 94.6% White, 0.3% African American, 2.0% Native American, 0.4% Asian, 0.4% from other races, and 2.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 2.9%.

Of the 1,420 households, 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.6% were married couples living together, 13.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 41.7% were non-families. 35.1% of households were one person and 10.8% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.19 and the average family size was 2.82.

The median age was 40.5 years. 23.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.4% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25.3% were from 25 to 44; 31.5% were from 45 to 64; and 12.7% were 65 or older. The gender makeup of the city was 50.3% male and 49.7% female.

2000 census

At the 2000 census there were 3,027 people in 1,279 households, including 832 families, in the city. The population density was . There were 1,617 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 95.74% White, 0.23% African American, 2.25% Native American, 0.20% Asian, 0.59% from other races, and 0.99% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 2.71%.

Local media

AM radio

  • KBHB 810
  • KKLS 920
  • KDSJ 980
  • KTOQ 1340
  • KBFS 1450

FM radio

  • KRCS 93.1
  • KKMK 93.9
  • KSQY 95.1
  • KZZI 95.9
  • KOUT 98.7
  • KFXS 100.3
  • KDDX 101.1
  • KFMH 101.9
  • KYDT 103.1
  • KIQK 104.1

Television

  • KHSD Ch. 11 ABC
  • KCLO Ch. 16 CBS
  • KNBN Ch. 21 NBC
  • KBHE-TV Ch. 26 PBS

Notable people

thumb|Gold-quartz placer nugget, found near Lead. About 1 cm wide.

  • Georgian Adams (1897–1986), food chemist at USDA
  • Richard Bullock (1847–1921), American pioneer
  • Sean Covel (b. 1976), film producer
  • James B. Dunn (1927–2016), South Dakota legislator
  • Thomas D. Edwards, Consul General of the United States to Ciudad Juarez
  • Stan Gibilisco, writer
  • Cynthia Larive, chemist and Chancellor of the University of California, Santa Cruz
  • John Miljan (1892–1960), actor
  • Charles Moyer (1866–1929), labor leader and former president of the Western Federation of Miners
  • William H. Parker (1905–1966), former chief of the Los Angeles Police Department
  • Len Rice (1918–1992), baseball player
  • Mina P. Shaughnessy (1924–1978), professor at the City University of New York and pioneering scholar of basic writing
  • Grace M. Sparkes (1893–1963), booster
  • Mike Steponovich (1908–1974), football player with the Boston Redskins
  • Charles Windolph (1851–1950), recipient of the Medal of Honor and the last surviving white participant in the Battle of Little Bighorn

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File:LeadSD CityHall.jpg|City Hall

File:LeadSD OldTownHall.jpg|Town Hall Inn, constructed in 1912

File:LeadSD PostOffice.jpg|US Post Office

File:LeadSD BlackHillsMiningMuseum.jpg|Black Hills Mining Museum

File:The Three Tracks, Lead, South Dakota - postcard.jpg|The Three Tracks,

File:Lead City, South Dakota LCCN2017658711.jpg|Lead in 1901

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References

  • Lead Tourism