Whitewood, SD

Whitewood is a Lawrence County city on the eastern edge of the Black Hills, named for Whitewood Creek and built out when the railroad arrived. The town was platted in 1887, became official in 1888, and for three years sat at the end of the line from Rapid City. Then tracks pushed toward Deadwood, Belle Fourche, and St. Onge, turning Whitewood into a shipping and flour-milling stop for ranches and mining camps. Today the old rail geography still gives the town its shape. Whitewood is the Black Hills in a creek-and-railroad story.