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Office: Jones County Emergency Management – 310 Main Street, Murdo, SD 57559
Services: Develops and maintains the county emergency response plan; coordinates preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation
Related: Jones County Sheriff’s Office – 104 East 4th St, PO Box 95, Murdo, SD 57559, (605) 669-7111; Jones County Ambulance – 101 N. Main St, (605) 669-3125.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: I-90 and US-83 meet at Murdo, the county seat, in central South Dakota, roughly halfway between Rapid City and Mitchell
Transit: Limited; primarily auto-dependent – confirm current regional options directly with the county.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Jones County Courthouse – 310 Main St, Murdo, SD 57559
Notes: City of Murdo issues its own separate in-town building permits – contact Murdo City Hall directly.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
County VSO: Jones County Veterans Service Officer – Jones County Courthouse, Murdo, SD
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Notes: A specific dedicated Jones County/Murdo public library location and hours could not be confidently confirmed in available sources – contact the Jones County Courthouse, (605) 669-2361, for current library services and hours.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Jones County’s seat, Murdo, is genuinely home to SOUTH DAKOTA’S ORIGINAL 1880 TOWN, a beloved and remarkably organic roadside attraction that grew almost entirely by accident; the story began in the early 1970s, when a movie production company struck a deal with local resident Clarence Hullinger – he would supply period antiques for a planned Western film shoot in South Dakota, and in exchange, the company would build an authentic Old West main street directly on Hullinger family property; the movie production ultimately fell through, but the western-style saloon and small shop buildings the crew had constructed were simply left standing, visible from the newly built Interstate 90; rather than let the structures go to waste, Clarence and his wife, Anna Marie – who owned and operated Murdo’s local Teepee restaurant – began sketching plans for expanding the site on restaurant napkins, initially naming it “Two Strike” after a historical Lakota leader before eventually settling on “1880 Town”; today, decades of careful collecting by the Hullinger family has grown the site into a genuinely extensive authentic 1880-to-1920-era town featuring more than 30 historic buildings, thousands of period relics, a prairie church, a complete pioneer homestead, a fourteen-sided barn built in 1919, and even a working Longhorn Ranch home to more than 100 Texas longhorn cattle; visitors regularly describe genuinely feeling as though they’ve stepped back in time, a reaction the attraction’s current co-owner, Richard Hullinger (Clarence’s son), says continues to surprise first-time guests who didn’t expect quite so immersive an experience from a simple highway stop
Notes: 1880 Town’s genuine, family-built origin story – born from a canceled movie shoot and grown one restaurant-napkin sketch at a time – is one of the most charming small-town tourism stories found anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
GIS Portal: Jones County GIS – contact the Jones County Courthouse for current parcel/GIS access
Parcel Search: Jones County Register of Deeds – (605) 669-7104
Addressing/911: Coordinated through Jones County Emergency Management
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Notes: No dedicated county-run animal shelter or animal control department was confirmed in available sources for Jones County. For strays or animal concerns, contact the Jones County Sheriff’s Office, (605) 669-7111. The nearest confirmed regional shelters are in larger South Dakota cities such as Pierre or Rapid City – contact directly to confirm whether they accept intake from Jones County residents.
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. Burn bans are periodically issued for Jones County during high fire danger periods – check with the county before any open burning.
NOTES
Jones County’s seat, Murdo, is genuinely home to South Dakota’s Original 1880 Town, an authentic pioneer-era village that grew from the leftover set of a canceled Western film shoot. All contact information above was sourced from official county, city, and courthouse pages as of this writing; phone numbers and hours should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit.
About Jones County County
Jones County is one of the least populous counties in America – fewer than 1,000 residents in the remote south-central South Dakota shortgrass ranch country where Murdo serves the county’s cattle ranching families near the Cold War Minuteman missile silos that once kept nuclear watch over the northern plains.
Murdo (the county seat, population ~480) is Jones County’s governmental hub on I-90, a south-central South Dakota ranching community whose Minuteman Missile site proximity, Bad River access, and cattle economy anchor its identity as one of America’s most remote I-90 stops.
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Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Jones County Assessor at 110 Cedar Street, Murdo, SD 57559, phone 605-669-2242. SD assessed at market value.
Courts & Legal
Jones County Circuit Court at 110 Cedar Street, Murdo, SD 57559, phone 605-669-2242, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CLERK OF COURTS
210 North Main St, Murdo, SD 57559
(605) 669-2361
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Jones County Clerk of Courts, Murdo (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Jones 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, Jones County PO Box 448, 310 Main Street, Murdo, SD 57559 (605) 669-2361 Jones County is in central South Dakota, seated in Murdo.
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 Jones 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 Jones 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
210 North Main St, Murdo, SD 57559
(605) 669-2361
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
AUDITOR (ELECTIONS)
210 North Main St, Murdo, SD 57559
(605) 669-2361
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Public Health
210 North Main St, Murdo, SD 57559
(605) 669-2361
Social Services
210 North Main St, Murdo, SD 57559
(605) 669-2361
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Jones County Public Health Nursing Service – Murdo, SD
Services: Immunizations, WIC, environmental health, vital records
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Murdo
Population: 900
Public Records
TruthFinder
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