TownTapestry
Sign inJoin
BuffaloGood morning
History · Buffalo

Buffalo’s history is
mostly unwritten

The public archives hold no old photos of Buffalo. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.

0old images & papers
1historic places
1recent photos

The story

from WikipediaRead it all ↗

Buffalo was established in 1909. It was named for the large herds of bison (mistakenly called buffalo) that once roamed the area. It is about fifty miles west of Bison, South Dakota.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Be one of the first

Start Buffalo’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Buffalo’s history is told.

0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Famous people from Buffalo

See all 1 →
CTCharles TurbivillePolitics & Law
By decade

Buffalo, decade by decade

Before
2000
No old photos in the archives yetWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
📷 Add from your album
Today1 photo
SDMap-doton-BuffaloCommonsSDMap-doton-Buffalo2004
National Register of Historic Places

Nothing in Buffalo is on the National Register yet

That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Buffalo has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Zoar Norwegian Lutheran Church in Kosciusko, 5.6 miles away.

Buffalo and the nearest listed places

Dashed line = Buffalo. Tap a dot.
Zoar Norwegian Lutheran ChurchKnapp RanchAndrew and Mary Stavig HouseSisseton SchoolSisseton Carnegie LibraryFort Sisseton

Closest to Buffalo

Zoar Norwegian Lutheran ChurchKosciusko · Building5.6miKnapp RanchOne Road · District10.4miAndrew and Mary Stavig HouseSisseton · Built 191611.7miSisseton SchoolSisseton · Building12miSisseton Carnegie LibrarySisseton · Built 191612mi

How a place gets listed

1Talk to the stateEvery nomination goes through the State Historic Preservation Office. Owners, towns and historical societies can start one.
2Try a local or state list firstMany states keep their own register with a shorter form, a common first step for old barns, halls and schoolhouses.
3Write it upA nomination covers the history, photos and a map. Zoar Norwegian Lutheran Church’s page links to a real one.
Know an old place in Buffalo?A mill, a schoolhouse, a cellar hole, a church: add a photo of it to Buffalo’s story, or a memory of it.
📷 Add a photo of an old place
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places · photos from Wikimedia Commons

Then & now

When neighbors add old photos, retakes from the same spot appear here side by side.

Stories next door

nearby towns’ history
📜 Red Iron Lake📜 Eden📜 Eden📜 Dry Wood Lake

From Wikimedia Commons (1) and the National Register (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

The coffee’s on

Where to, neighbor?

You’re in Buffalo, SDMarshall CountyView boundary

Nearby

All towns & citiesExplore the map

Local begins with a boundary.

See what belongs to your selected town.

Loading boundary…

Buffalo is your selected town. The feed includes posts assigned to this town, not a distance radius or ZIP code.

Neighborhoods narrow the feed further, while townwide announcements, events, and issues remain visible.

Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/15 · 2025-01-01
Open detailed map