City of Aberdeen

Aberdeen is a city in and the county seat of Brown County, South Dakota, United States, located approximately 125 miles northeast of Pierre. The population was 28495 at the 2020 census, making it the third most populous city in the state after Sioux Falls and Rapid City. Aberdeen is home of Northern State University.

Aberdeen, like many towns of the Midwest, was built around the newly developing railroad systems. Aberdeen was first officially plotted as a town site on January 3, 1881, by Charles Prior, the superintendent of the Minneapolis office of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad, or the Milwaukee Road for short, which was presided over by Alexander Mitchell, Charles Prior’s boss, who was responsible for the choice of town names. He was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, after which the town of Aberdeen was named.