Editing Wessington, South Dakota (section)

==History==
A post office has been in operation in Wessington since 1882.<ref>{{GNIS|2712580|name=Wessington Post Office}}</ref> The city took its name from the nearby Wessington Hills.<ref>{{cite book|author=Chicago and North Western Railway Company|title=A History of the Origin of the Place Names Connected with the Chicago & North Western and Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railways|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OspBAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA137|year=1908|page=137}}</ref>

The early growth of Wessington began because it was a transshipment point for locally produced grains<ref>{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FINHAQAAIAAJ&dq=railroad+shipment+wessington+sd&pg=PA559 |title=National Newspaper Directory and Gazetteer |date=1903 |publisher=Pettingill & Company |language=en}}</ref> because of the railroad (C. & N.W. Ry. Co.<ref>{{Cite book|url = https://archive.org/details/cu31924076354442|page = [https://archive.org/details/cu31924076354442/page/n544 113]|quote = railroad%20shipment%20wessington%20sd.|title = Annual Report|last = Commission|first = South Dakota Public Utilities|date = 1908-01-01| publisher=Baltimore |language = en}}</ref>). This allowed local producers lower shipping costs compared to villages further from railroads, encouraging the location of other businesses in the town. Wessington originally was located in Beadle County; the cohesiveness of the community soon led to growth into neighboring Hand County.

In 1918, there was a flourishing [[Ice#Production|natural ice]] business that provisioned refrigerated freight cars.<ref>{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_glGAQAAMAAJ|title = Industrial Refrigeration|date = 1918-01-01|publisher = Nickerson & Collins Company|language = en}}</ref> The cattle industry in the area has increased the market quality of the nation's cattle through improvements in herd management and adaptations to changing consumer demands. Many producers have received national recognition throughout the years.<ref>http://simmental.org/site/pdf/register/Jan%2012%20Register%20Golden%20Book%20Award%20Recipients.pdf John Christensen, 2012 Simmental genetics Golden Book Award recipient</ref>