Ardmore

Overview

A water stop on the plains

Ardmore sits in the grassland of Fall River County, about a mile north of the Nebraska line, where SD 71 and the railroad run side by side toward Crawford. It was founded in 1889. Wikipedia's list of South Dakota ghost towns says trains stopped here for water and supplies, that the local water was too acidic to drink, and that drought made farming hard. The name is thought to come from Dora Moore, a local teacher. The outlaw Doc Middleton is remembered as a former resident.

Ardmore's proudest stories come from the 1920s and 1930s. President Calvin Coolidge stopped here in 1927 while he was staying at Custer State Park, and the town came through the Great Depression without one family on welfare. After that the pattern was the familiar one on the Great Plains. Farming paid less, young people left for work and school elsewhere, and the older residents moved away or died. The census found 16 people in 1980 and one in 2020.

What is left is easy to see from the highway: a few blocks of empty houses, some with their roofs gone, a water tower, rows of junked cars in the grass, and the red steel hall of the Ardmore Volunteer Fire Department, where former residents held a reunion in September 2010. We found no record of the town's post office dates.

Video

Walking the gravel streets

A YouTuber walks Ardmore's gravel streets on a hot, clear summer day: the roadside table of rocks and odds and ends, the brick building and the empty houses, junked cars rusting behind fences, the water tower and a neighbor at his mailbox, keeping to the streets and saying he will respect the fences. The buildings are private; look at them from the road, as the video does.

Play “Abandoned Place: Ardmore South Dakota” from YouTube

Timeline

From 1889 to one resident

1. 1889Ardmore is founded beside the railroad, about a mile north of the Nebraska line. The name is thought to come from Dora Moore, a local teacher.
2. 1902The USGS Edgemont sheet shows Ardmore on the railroad, with Hat Creek to the west, Long Branch and Short Branch to the east, and roads fanning out to the homesteads around it.
3. 1927President Calvin Coolidge, staying at Custer State Park that summer, stops in Ardmore.
4. 1930sArdmore comes through the Great Depression without a single family on welfare, as the town remembers it.
5. 1955The USGS Hot Springs sheet marks Ardmore on Highway 87, with an Agriculture Experiment Station to the northwest.
6. 1980The census counts 16 residents.
7. 2004National Geographic features Ardmore in its May issue. South Dakota Magazine later says that by 2004 it was considered an isolated ghost town.
8. Sep 4, 2010Former residents hold a reunion at the Ardmore Volunteer Fire Department hall.
9. 2020The census counts one resident.

On the ground

Houses, cars and a water tower

A video posted on August 20, 2026, drives into Ardmore on SD 71 and looks around town. It shows a collapsed wooden building beside the highway, empty frame houses and a two-story brick house with boarded windows, the fire department hall, junked cars and a boat in the grass, the water tower from the air, and a table of rocks and odds and ends set out by the road. A video filmed in May 2025 counts 15 to 25 abandoned buildings and says they are all on private property. Another, posted in August 2024, shows a roadside table of rocks for sale with a box for payment, cattle grazing at the edge of town and a neighbor collecting mail there, so the area around Ardmore is still worked.

The historic maps below trace the town. The 1902 Edgemont sheet shows Ardmore on the railroad with Hat Creek to the west, Long Branch and Short Branch to the east, and roads heading out in every direction. The 1955 Hot Springs sheet marks it on Highway 87, with an Agriculture Experiment Station to the northwest and Crawford 28 miles south. The 1993 sheet shows SD 71 and the railroad through town, Hunter Hill to the northeast and national grassland in green on both sides.

• Empty frame houses, several without roofs
• A two-story brick house with boarded windows
• The Ardmore Volunteer Fire Department hall
• The water tower
• Junked cars, trucks and farm equipment in the grass
• The BNSF railroad beside the town

Historic maps

Ardmore on USGS maps, 1902–1993

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

19021:125,00019551:250,00019931:100,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Ardmore is on SD 71, the highway from Hot Springs to the Nebraska line. Both routes end in town at Clark Avenue. The buildings are private, so look from the highway and the town streets.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

Ardmore in photos

SD 71 heading south into Ardmore, January 2020The volunteer fire department hall and the reunion sign, September 2010

Visitor reports

Been to Ardmore?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

Thanks. Your report reached us, and we'll read it before it goes on the page.

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Nearby

Other sites near Ardmore

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our South Dakota index.

• Heppner16.6 mi N · Fall River
• Igloo17.3 mi NW · Fall River
• Edgemont21.2 mi NW · Fall River
• Burdock34.5 mi NW · Fall River
• Buffalo Gap36.9 mi NE · Custer
• Dewey40.2 mi NW · Custer
• Melvin47.3 mi NE · Custer
• Custer51.7 mi N · Custer

Sources

Sources and credits

1. Wikipedia, "Ardmore, South Dakota", retrieved October 2026: founding in 1889, Dora Moore, Coolidge in 1927, the Depression, the 1980 and 2020 census counts, 15 to 25 abandoned houses, the 2010 reunion, National Geographic in 2004, Doc Middleton, the BNSF line beside the town.
2. Wikipedia, "List of ghost towns in South Dakota", retrieved October 2026: Ardmore listed as abandoned, the railroad water stop, acidic water and drought.
3. Andrea Maibaum, "Ardmore", South Dakota Magazine, July 9, 2013: founding in 1889, the Depression, considered an isolated ghost town by 2004.
4. Stormbruiser, "June 22, 2011: Ardmore and Devils Tower", June 22, 2011: abandoned houses and junked cars, no one seen.
5. Quiet Places with Marshall, "Abandoned Place: Ardmore South Dakota", YouTube, posted August 31, 2024: the roadside table with a box for payment, cattle at the edge of town and a neighbor at his mailbox (the video on this page; checked against its captions and storyboard frames).
6. Chris Attrell, "Ghost Towns in Southwest South Dakota", YouTube, posted July 6, 2025 (filmed May 2025): 15 to 25 abandoned buildings, all on private property, photographed from the road.
7. Travel with a Wiseguy, "Driving to 5 of South Dakota's Most DESERTED Lost Towns", YouTube, posted August 20, 2026: the collapsed building, houses, fire hall, cars, boat, water tower and roadside table as they stood.
8. ghosttowns.com, "Ardmore", read October 2026: fact sheet (road, climate, best time, remains), the Depression and the pattern of decline.
9. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited below each one. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

• SD 71 heading south into Ardmore, January 2020: formulanone, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
• The volunteer fire department hall and the reunion sign, September 2010: Tibolli, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Edgemont 1902, 1:125,000; Hot Springs 1955, 1:250,000; Hot Springs 1993, 1:100,000.