Tea, South Dakota, Named for Nothing in Particular
Near Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Tea, just south of Sioux Falls in Lincoln County, has one of the more honest naming stories on the prairie. The settlement was originally called Byron, but that name was already in use elsewhere in the state and a new one was needed. Residents held a meeting to brainstorm options and someone proposed Tea, a name chosen for its brevity. The organizers confirmed that the name had no particular significance. It was simply brief and available. Tea it became.
The town was laid out in eighteen ninety-four, plotted out in nineteen hundred, and incorporated in nineteen oh six. For most of the twentieth century it stayed a small Lincoln County farm town. In recent decades its location just southwest of Sioux Falls has made it one of the faster-growing communities in South Dakota, though the name still raises questions that have no satisfying answer.
