The History of Potter County 

Potter County was created in 1875 and organized in 1883. It was originally named Ashmore County in honor of Samuel Ashmore of Elk Point, a member of the Legislature in 1872-73. The county name was changed to Potter in 1877 in honor of Dr. Joel A. Potter, a member of the Legislature that year. 

(Note: The following history was taken from public documents that were submitted to the National Park Service) 
 "Potter County is located in north-central South Dakota, in a rural region of farms and small towns. In common with most of central South Dakota, the county saw only limited Euro-American habitation until the late nineteenth century, when the construction of railroad lines into the area spurred a great period of settlement into the region. Most of the counties new settlers claimed 160-acre tracts of the regions fertile prairie and established small grain farms. They enjoyed general success, and by the end of the century nearly all of the arable land in the county was devoted to agriculture. Several small communities developed during the period, serving as business and community centers for the farmers. Gettysburg quickly became the largest, due both its central location and its position on the county's primary railroad route. 

 Potter County was established by the Dakota territorial legislature in 1875; it was known as Ashmore County until 1877. In common with most of Dakota's newly-created counties during the period, Potter County was established well before the arrival of a significant number of Euro-American settlers, and the county remained an unorganized entity until 1883, when the first large influx of homesteaders to Potter County took place. The county's first meeting of it's new Board of Commissioners was held on December 27, 1883 in Forest City, a small town on the Missouri River west of Gettysburg. (The Forest City townsite is now beneath the waters of Lake Oahe.) 

 Following a pattern played out in several South Dakota counties, Potter County's first year was marked with a bitter dispute over the permanent location of the county seat. The county's first Commissioners temporarily gave the honor to Forest City, but a special election in 1884 saw Gettysburg chosen as the permanent county seat. When the Forest City partisans suggested vote fraud and refused to relinquish the official county records, a contingent of Gettysburg residents crept into Forest City for a dawn raid on the county offices. Their removal of the county papers to Gettysburg essentially settled the county seat dispute...................."