1195 - Agar Overview
This 1911 photograph of Agar, South Dakota, taken from the grain elevator just a year after the town’s founding, shows a small but growing prairie community with unpaved streets, wooden storefronts, and scattered houses stretching toward the open plains.
Like many towns across South Dakota, Agar was a product of the railroad. In 1909, the Chicago Northwestern Railroad was snaking its way across the prairie. Since Onida was already a trade center, it was logical to run the line through there. For efficiency and maximum profit, the railroads established towns approximately every 10 miles. The fertile farmland in this part of the county made Agar a good location for a new town.
The line was completed very quickly, and the first train ran through Sully County on August 1, 1910. By that time, there were 13 buildings in the small town of Agar. By the following spring, it was a full-blown boom town, with 34 businesses either operating or under construction.
Agar continued to grow in the following years. The population hit its peak in 1930 with 200 residents. However, the Dust Bowl and Great Depression hit the Plains hard, and Agar was no exception. The population dropped to 142 in 1940. Today around 80 people reside in Agar.
Since the early homestead days, the community has emphasized a quality education for all residents. The Agar Independent School District provided an active Kindergarten through High School program and many students went on to achieve University degrees in law, engineering, medicine, education, and agriculture. Though, the changing population, smaller families, and other factors created small enrollments in the Agar District forcing consolidation with the Sully Buttes school system in the early 2000’s.
Agar has always relied on agriculture as its main industry. Businesses in the area are dependent on the health of the ag economy. Technology and the improved transportation have radically changed the way farmers and ranchers operate their land. Mechanization and advanced cultural practices have decreased the number of laborers needed to operate the farms. The result has been a significant loss of population across the farming communities of the upper Midwest.
Despite its small size, Agar continues to serve the local community with the necessities and a warm safe environment in which to live and prosper. The rich soils and strong people who live here continue to produce agricultural commodities for a hungry nation and world. They are a testament to those who first came and established this small prairie town.