Arlington, SD

Arlington was platted by the Western Town Lot Company in 1880 as Nordland, with Norwegian names assigned to its streets. The town was renamed Arlington a few years later and incorporated into the rail-and-farm grid of eastern South Dakota. It sits across Brookings and Kingsbury counties, with Lake Poinsett northeast and open prairie surrounding the city. The two-county setting is part of Arlington’s practical history: farms, schools, and county lines meet in a community built to serve the landscape around it.

Arlington Public Schools cover the city through one elementary, one junior high, and one high school; the high school rebuilt in 2004 remains a prominent local institution. Lake Poinsett adds boating, fishing, camping, and a visitor center and museum devoted to area history. The city’s downtown, school grounds, and lake routes give residents three different versions of the same place—daily work, school-season gathering, and summer water. Arlington has a Scandinavian first name on its early map, but its present rhythm is South Dakota: farm roads, school events, and the lake just beyond town.