Nelson County Towns

At one time there were eleven towns in Nelson County that had businesses, schools and residential neighborhoods. Over the past half century with the overall population decline in the county many of these towns have also lost population and some have all but disappeared. Today there are only two school districts. The Lakota school district operates a kindergarden through twelfth grade school in the town of Lakota. The rest of the county belongs to the Dakota Prairie School District which operates an elementary school through the sixth grade in McVille and grades seven through twelve in Petersburg. Ten of the eleven towns still have active churches. The summaries below are for the ten towns that still have some of the criteria for a town. The eleventh, Mapes, is now categorized as a ghost town. Clicking on the town's name will also bring you to a photo album of the town.