Midland, South Dakota, has a geothermal district heating system. The system exists due to a joint venture between the school district and the city in the early 1960s. The city needed a source of domestic water and the school district needed to reduce their heating costs. With help from faculty from the South Dakota School of Mines, the system was constructed piece by piece, often by trial and error.
This small town, 60 miles southwest of Pierre on US 14, in Haakon County, was established in 1890. The first hot water wells were dug by the railroad in about 1906, when the Chicago North Western originally went through the area. This was the only source of water available for use in the steam engines. Midland is in the Black Hills, Badlands & Lakes Region.