Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial recommendations are independent of these relationships.
South Dakota County
Brookings County, South Dakota
South Dakota State University and the South Dakota Art Museum - from South Dakota State University (the flagship land-grant university of South Dakota - enrollment ~12,000 - whose agricultural research, nursing, pharmacy, and engineering programs make it one of the most comprehensive universities on the northern Great Plains, and whose Jackrabbits athletics compete in the Missouri Valley Conference) to the South Dakota Art Museum's Harvey Dunn collection (the museum houses the most significant collection of works by Harvey Dunn - the illustrator and painter who documented Great Plains homestead life with emotional power - making it one of the Upper Midwest's finest specialized art collections).
Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial recommendations are independent of these relationships.
What do you need to do?
Tell us your goal and we'll guide you step-by-step to the right office, forms, and official resources.
Related: Brookings County Sheriff – 315 7th Avenue, Brookings, SD 57006, (605) 696-8300; Brookings Police Department (dispatch) – (605) 692-2113.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: I-29 and US-14 serve Brookings, the county seat and home to South Dakota State University, in eastern South Dakota
Transit: Limited regional/campus transit; primarily auto-dependent – confirm current options directly with the county or city.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Brookings County Development Department / Planning & Zoning – (605) 696-8350 | Hours: Mon–Fri 8 AM–5 PM
Services: Building permits, zoning ordinances, floodplain development permits, driveway/dust control permits for unincorporated Brookings County
Notes: City of Brookings issues its own separate building permits for in-city and joint-jurisdictional non-agricultural projects – (605) 692-6222; permits must be issued before footings are poured, and late permits incur a doubled investigation fee.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
County VSO: Brookings County Veterans Service Officer – Brookings County Courthouse, Brookings, SD
Libraries
LIBRARIES
System: Brookings Public Library – Brookings, SD
Notes: Open 66 hours per week; located one block east of downtown Brookings, near the Children’s Museum of South Dakota.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Brookings County is genuinely and proudly home to SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY (SDSU), the state’s largest and most comprehensive university and the oldest continually operating university in South Dakota – genuinely predating South Dakota’s own 1889 statehood; the university’s origins trace to February 21, 1881, when Dakota Territory Governor Nehemiah George Ordway signed legislation establishing the Dakota Agricultural College, an effort championed and personally lobbied for in the territorial legislature by Brookings County delegate John O’Brien “J.O.” Scobey; as the story is told locally, Scobey had actually set out for that legislative session hoping to secure a far more lucrative prize for his hometown – the state penitentiary – but lost that bid to Sioux Falls, returning instead with what might then have looked like a consolation prize: the rights to establish a college; the 1881 legislation required the community to secure 80 acres of land for the new college within a year, and Brookings citizens rose to the challenge, raising more than $600 to purchase the necessary acreage from local landowner Randi Petersen that October; the first building, later known as “Old Central,” was completed by 1884 (and stood until its demolition in 1962), and by fall term 1885, the very first classes began with a modest 62 students; when South Dakota officially achieved statehood in 1889, the Brookings institution formally became a land-grant college under the landmark 1862 Morrill Act – federal legislation signed by President Abraham Lincoln that revolutionized American higher education by dedicating public land specifically to fund colleges teaching agriculture, engineering, and practical skills alongside the traditional liberal arts, deliberately expanding access to higher education far beyond the wealthy elite who had previously dominated it; the school was renamed Dakota Agricultural College, then South Dakota State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in 1904, and finally achieved full university status as South Dakota State University on July 1, 1964; today, SDSU enrolls over 12,000 students across eight colleges offering more than 230 majors, minors, and specializations, and remains the true heart of the Brookings community – visitors entering town are greeted by the towering Coughlin Campanile, an iconic campus landmark, while nearby attractions include the McCrory Gardens botanical collection and the South Dakota Art Museum
Notes: SDSU’s genuine, extensively documented status as older than the state of South Dakota itself – founded through a lobbyist’s consolation-prize legislative bid – is one of the most distinctive institutional origin stories found anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
GIS Portal: Brookings County GIS – accessible via brookingscountysd.gov
Parcel Search: Brookings County Director of Equalization
Addressing/911: Coordinated through Brookings County Emergency Management
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Facility: Brookings Regional Humane Society – 120 W 2nd Street S, Brookings, SD 57006 | (605) 697-7387 | Email: [email protected] | Adoption appointments: Tue–Fri 12–6 PM, Sat 11 AM–4 PM
Services: Adoption, owner surrender, reduced-cost microchipping (by appointment), animal abuse investigation, pet food and litter bank; adoption fees vary by animal type, dogs generally $150-$350+ tax, all animals spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and microchipped before adoption
Notes: Adoptions are currently by appointment only – a brief application is completed on-site.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Environmental Complaints: South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources (DANR) – danr.sd.gov
Notes: Contact your specific municipality directly for current refuse collection and recycling program details.
NOTES
Brookings County’s seat is genuinely home to South Dakota State University, the state’s largest university, founded in 1881 – eight years before South Dakota itself became a state. All contact information above was sourced from official county, city, library, and shelter pages as of this writing; phone numbers and hours should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit.
About Brookings County
Brookings County is South Dakota’s land-grant university county – SDSU’s agricultural research legacy and the Harvey Dunn art collection defining the region’s intellectual and cultural identity on the northeast South Dakota prairie.
Brookings (the county seat, population ~24,000) is defined by SDSU – the university’s research stations, Extension programs, and campus culture give Brookings a vitality exceptional for a Great Plains city of its size.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Brookings County Director of Equalization at 520 3rd Street, Suite 220, Brookings, SD 57006, phone 605-696-8250. SD residential owner-occupied exemptions apply.
Courts & Legal
Brookings County Circuit Court at 314 6th Avenue, Brookings, SD 57006, phone 605-696-8280, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CLERK OF COURTS
314 6th Ave, Brookings, SD 57006
(605) 696-8283
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Brookings County Clerk of Courts, Brookings (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Brookings County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Clerk of Courts, Brookings County 314 6th Avenue, Brookings, SD 57006 (605) 688-4200
Brookings County is in eastern South Dakota, seated in Brookings – home to South Dakota State University.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
South Dakota HAS adopted the Uniform Probate Code (Articles I, II, III, IV, and VIII, effective July 1, 1995). Probate proceedings are handled by the Circuit Court in the county where the decedent lived, generally administered under the supervision of the Clerk of Courts.
Small Estate Affidavit – Collection of Personal Property (SDCL § 29A-3-1201) – available when the total gross value of the entire estate, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $50,000. At least 30 days must have passed since death, no petition for appointment of a personal representative is pending or has been granted anywhere, and the decedent had no outstanding debts to the Department of Social Services for medical assistance or institutional/nursing home care. A separate affidavit exists for South Dakota real estate under $50,000, which must also be filed with the Register of Deeds where the property sits.
Informal Probate – the most common track in South Dakota, used when heirs and beneficiaries are getting along and no disputes are expected.
Unsupervised Formal Probate and Supervised Formal Probate – for more complex or contested situations.
Step 2: filing for administration
The personal representative (or an interested party) files an application or petition with the Clerk of Courts in Brookings County, along with the original will if one exists.
For informal probate, the clerk reviews the application administratively and issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration without a hearing in most cases.
Formal proceedings require notice to interested parties and, if contested, a hearing before the circuit judge.
The personal representative gathers and inventories assets, notifies creditors, and pays valid debts and expenses.
After debts and taxes are satisfied, remaining assets are distributed according to the will or South Dakota’s intestacy statutes (SDCL Chapter 29A-2).
The estate is formally closed by filing a sworn closing statement or a petition for formal order of discharge (SDCL § 29A-3-1003).
What it costs
Court costs are set by law and paid to the Clerk of Courts; confirm current fees with Brookings County directly.
South Dakota has NO state estate tax and NO state inheritance tax. Only the federal estate tax may apply, and only to very large estates.
A surviving spouse cannot be disinherited in South Dakota unless the spouse agrees.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
314 6th Ave, Brookings, SD 57006
(605) 696-8300
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
AUDITOR (ELECTIONS)
314 6th Ave, Brookings, SD 57006
(605) 696-8250
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Health Department
1310 Foss Ave, Brookings, SD 57006
(605) 696-8484
Department of Social Services
620 6th St, Brookings, SD 57006
(605) 688-4470
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Brookings County Public Health Nursing Service – Brookings, SD
Editorial independence: CountyOffices maintains strict editorial independence from our affiliate partners. Our content is researched from official government sources. Affiliate relationships do not influence our recommendations or the information we publish.
Editorial Trust
5 official sources cited
Reviewed by CountyOffices Editorial Team
Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Brookings
Population: 35,000
Established: 1879
Tier: 3
Public Records
TruthFinder
Search public records for Brookings County residents.
