Abandoned Towns
A closed general store in Okaton with two old gas pumps under a canopy, a 'Closed for season' sheet in the window and a ghost town sign at left, August 2014

Railroad and road town

Okaton

A Milwaukee Road town of 1906 on the prairie west of Murdo, emptied by hard winters, the Depression and the loss of its railroad. Its grain elevator has collapsed to a stump, its roadside ghost town attraction has closed, and 31 people lived in the area at the 2020 census.

43°53′13″N 100°53′33″W · ≈2,330 ft

Photo: sandertheone, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

Private buildings · attraction closed

Legends of America (updated March 2026) says all the buildings in Okaton are privately owned and not part of any attraction, that residents still use many of them, and asks visitors not to leave the public roads to look inside or get a closer picture. Westlake's Ghost Town, the roadside attraction once advertised on I-90, is no longer open: the owners have died, the property was sold and the signs are gone. There are no services in town. The newest report we found, a video posted on August 2, 2026, shows the false-front ghost town row and its Ghost Town Mall sign still standing, and the elevator broken down to a short stump.

Overview

The town the interstate passed

Old cars and a pickup in the grass at Okaton, August 2014
Old cars and a pickup in the grass at Okaton, August 2014 · Photo: sandertheone, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

Okaton lies on the open prairie of Jones County, just south of Interstate 90 and about nine miles west of Murdo. It began in 1906, when the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad built west across the county toward Rapid City, and its business street faced the tracks. The railroad's construction crews soon moved on west, and the homesteaders who followed found the winters hard. Many gave up during the Great Depression.

The railroad pulled out in the 1980s (1980 in one account, the mid-1980s in another), and Interstate 90 passed the town by. In the same decade Robert and Evelyn Westlake, from Illinois, bought property in Okaton and opened Westlake's Ghost Town, with a general store selling drinks and sandwiches, a rock shop, gas pumps, a ghost town facade and a petting zoo, all advertised on billboards along I-90. A film crew repainted the old Okaton Grain Co. elevator as the Bingo Grain Co. for a movie that was never released.

The post office closed in 2013, and mail now comes from Murdo. The census counted 13 people in 1990 and 31 in 2020, and Legends of America suggests most of them live on nearby farms. The Westlakes have since died, their property was sold and the attraction has closed. What's left is a scatter of houses, sheds, the old school, the shut store and the stump of a wooden elevator.

Video

A drive along Railway Street

Filmed on a road trip in August 2022, the date on its title cards, a camera drives Okaton's gravel streets under a big summer sky: the stump of the grain elevator, the false-front row of the closed Old Western Town attraction on Railway Street, the former post office, a few houses and the empty lots at the west end of town, with captions on screen naming each stop. The buildings are private, and the roadside attraction is closed; this is a look from the street.

Play “tiny town tour okaton, sd” from YouTube
“tiny town tour okaton, sd”, by coyotecurry on YouTube. The player loads from YouTube when you press play.

Timeline

From railroad town to exit 183

  1. The Milwaukee Road builds west through the area toward Rapid City, and Okaton starts beside the tracks. One source gives 1906 or 1907.
  2. Hard winters and the Depression drive many homesteaders off the land around the town.
  3. The USGS Martin sheet shows Okaton on the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific line and US 16, between Murdo and the Jones–Jackson county line.
  4. The railroad pulls out: 1980 in one account, the mid-1980s in another. Interstate 90 passes just north of town.
  5. Robert and Evelyn Westlake of Illinois buy property in town and open Westlake's Ghost Town, a store, rock shop, gas pumps and petting zoo advertised on I-90.
  6. The USGS White River sheet labels the railroad east of town as abandoned.
  7. The census counts 13 residents.
  8. The census counts 29 people in 2000, 36 in 2010 and 31 in 2020.
  9. The post office closes. Mail comes from Murdo.
  10. The Westlakes have died, their holdings are sold, the I-90 signs are gone and the attraction no longer opens to visitors.
  11. A video posted on August 2 shows the elevator reduced to a broken lower section in a pile of boards.

On the ground

The elevator, the store and the cars

The general store and gas pumps with a 'Closed for season' sheet in the window, August 2014
The general store and gas pumps with a 'Closed for season' sheet in the window, August 2014 · Photo: sandertheone, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

Legends of America, updated in March 2026, lists what remains: the big grain elevator by the old tracks with Bingo Grain Co. painted on it, the closed general store and rock shop across the road, several old homes, the school, tumbling shacks, grain bins, rusting equipment and rickety fences. A photographer's post of November 2, 2024, found the wooden elevator in ruins with its top gone, and overgrown tracks in front of it. A video posted on August 2, 2026, shows less: from the air the elevator is a short, broken box of planks in a heap of fallen boards beside the rails, while the row of false fronts along the street, with its Ghost Town Mall sign, an old Texaco sign and a few parked trucks, still stands. A video posted in April 2025 notes that a few houses are still lived in. The photos here, from August 2014, show the store's canopy and two old gas pumps, a ghost town sign and rows of old cars and trucks in the grass.

The historic maps below show the railroad's rise and fall. The 1955 Martin sheet marks Okaton on the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific line and US 16, with Murdo to the east and the White River to the south. The 1985 White River sheet shows I-90 just north of the town's small grid, and the rail line to the southeast labeled abandoned.

  • What is left of the wooden grain elevator, broken down to a stump by August 2026
  • The closed general store, rock shop and gas pumps, and the false-front ghost town row
  • The old Okaton school
  • Houses, sheds and grain bins, many still in use
  • Old cars, trucks and farm equipment
  • The old railroad grade
USGS topographic map of Okaton: a small street grid between Railway Street and SD 248, with I-90 and its interchange to the northeast
USGS The National Map, topo. Okaton's grid between the old rail line and SD 248, with I-90 just north.
Aerial view of Okaton: a few streets of houses, sheds and trees between the rail line and the interstate interchange
Aerial imagery, same point. The town's few streets between the old tracks and the I-90 interchange.

Historic maps

Okaton on USGS maps, 1955–1985

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.

USGS topographic map around Okaton, 1955
Martin sheet, 1955, 1:250,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Okaton is south of I-90 at exit 183. Both routes leave the interstate there and end in town. Every building is private, so stay on the public roads.

USGS topographic map of I-90 from Okaton east to Murdo

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

From Murdo9.3 miabout 12 min
  1. From Main Street in Murdo, turn right on 5th Street (I-90 Business) to the interstate.1.2 mi
  2. Take I-90 west.7.5 mi
  3. Take exit 183 and turn left into Okaton.0.6 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • Okaton is reached from I-90 exit 183, per Legends of America.
  • All the buildings are private and many are still used. Stay on the public roads, per Legends of America (March 2026).
  • There are no services in Okaton. Murdo has fuel and food.
  • The routes are computed from OpenStreetMap and haven't been driven by us.

Photos

Okaton in photos

Visitor reports

Been to Okaton?

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.

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Nearby

Other sites near Okaton

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

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. Wikipedia, "Okaton, South Dakota", retrieved October 2026: the 1906 start with the Milwaukee Railroad (citing South Dakota Place-Names, 1940), the business district by the tracks, the 2013 post office closing, census counts for 2000, 2010 and 2020, the former attraction.
  2. Kathy Alexander, "Okaton, South Dakota – A Prairie Ghost Town", Legends of America, updated March 2026: the railroad to Rapid City, homesteaders leaving, the mid-1980s railroad exit and I-90, the Westlakes and their attraction and its closing, the Bingo Grain Co. elevator, what remains, private buildings, stay on public roads, exit 183.
  3. "Okaton and Cottonwood: a photographic visit to two South Dakota ghost towns", I Catch Shadows, November 2, 2024: the elevator in ruins with its top gone, overgrown tracks, everything private.
  4. ghosttowns.com, "Okaton", read October 2026: fact sheet (road, climate, best time, remains), 1906 or 1907, the Depression, the 1980 rail abandonment, the 1990 count of 13, the unreleased film. It lists Jackson County; Wikipedia and USGS place Okaton in Jones County.
  5. Keith Dotson Photography, "Okaton and Cottonwood: Visiting Two South Dakota 'Ghost Towns'", YouTube, posted October 25, 2024: the elevator missing its top, the tracks in front, everything private.
  6. What's Around the Bend?, "OKATON GHOST TOWN! and Exploring beautiful Stanton Iowa!", YouTube, posted April 1, 2025: a few houses still occupied, the Ghost Town Mall sign, the old gas pumps.
  7. Travel with a Wiseguy, "Only 917 People Live in Jones County, South Dakota", YouTube, posted August 2, 2026: the false-front row and Ghost Town Mall sign, the Texaco sign, the elevator broken down to a stump beside the rails.
  8. coyotecurry, "tiny town tour okaton, sd", YouTube, posted December 31, 2022: a street-level drive through town in August 2022, per its title cards (the video on this page); no captions, checked against its storyboard frames.
  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