<P> The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration maintains a National Weather Service office in Aberdeen . Their area of responsibility includes northern and eastern South Dakota and two counties in west - central Minnesota . </P> <P> Aberdeen is the county seat of Brown County . The original county seat was, however, Columbia . During the days of the railroad construction, plans were laid to bring the railroad through Columbia, then the county seat . When word of this spread, land in and around Columbia soared in price due to speculation . When the time came for the railroads to purchase land, the increase in land prices led them to change their decision and instead to route the rail lines through Aberdeen . However, once Aberdeen became a town in 1881, there was a long - running controversy concerning which town would be the county seat, which continued until 1890, when it was declared by the newly formed South Dakota state constitution in 1889 that a majority vote could move the county seat if the county seat in question had originally been established by less than a majority vote . The result of the vote declared that Aberdeen would be the county seat once and for all, so all of the records were once again transferred to Aberdeen's courthouse; during the battle for county seat, the records had been moved from Columbia's courthouse to Aberdeen's courthouse (which was built from 1886 to 1887), and back again to Columbia's in what seemed to be a never - ending cycle of the transferring of records . This was typically done in the form of nighttime raids from the two towns . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Th_colspan="4"> Historical population </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Census </Th> <Th> Pop . </Th> <Th> </Th> <Th>% ± </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1890 </Td> <Td> 3,182 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td>--</Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1900 </Td> <Td> 4,087 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> 28.4% </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1910 </Td> <Td> 10,753 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> 163.1% </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1920 </Td> <Td> 14,537 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> 35.2% </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1930 </Td> <Td> 16,465 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> 13.3% </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1940 </Td> <Td> 17,015 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> 3.3% </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1950 </Td> <Td> 21,061 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> 23.8% </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1960 </Td> <Td> 23,073 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> 9.6% </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1970 </Td> <Td> 26,476 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> 14.7% </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1980 </Td> <Td> 25,851 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> − 2.4% </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> 24,927 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> − 3.6% </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 2000 </Td> <Td> 24,658 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> − 1.1% </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> 26,091 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> 5.8% </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Est. 2016 </Td> <Td> 28,415 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> 8.9% </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="4"> U.S. Decennial Census 2015 Estimate </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Th_colspan="4"> Historical population </Th> </Tr>

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