Does Clay County SD have ghost towns?

If ghost towns do not need to have standing structures, then Clay County has at least one – Lodi. Bloomingdale may turn out to be another one, but further research is needed to determine if Bloomingdale was a town. Both are now private land and used for farming.

Plat of Lodi from Illustrated historical atlas of Clay County, South Dakota: including a brief history of Clay County, 1901, by E. Frank Peterson.

Peterson’s atlas can be viewed in the Archives and Special Collections or the Digital Library of South Dakota. The atlas has a map of Lodi plus maps of other towns or villages in Clay County.

The county has a few more towns or villages that no longer exist, but they were moved rather than abandoned. Lincoln relocated and became Meckling.

Please contact us if you know of other abandoned towns in Clay County, SD.