Spink Township, Union County, South Dakota

42°51′07″N 96°44′49″W / 42.85194°N 96.74694°W / 42.85194; -96.74694CountryUnited StatesStateSouth DakotaCountyUnionPopulation • Total245Time zoneUTC-6 (Central (CST)) • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)

Spink Township is a township in Union County, South Dakota, United States. Its population was 245 at the 2000 census.^[1]

Located in western Union County, Spink Township borders the following other townships:^[2]

• Emmet Township — north
• Big Springs Township — northeastern corner
• Sioux Valley Township — east
• Richland Township — southeastern corner
• Brule Township — south
• Fairview Township, Clay County — southwestern corner
• Prairie Center Township, Clay County — west
• Garfield Township, Clay County — northwestern corner

A community, also named Spink, was established in the township in 1871. At its peak, the community was strong enough to compete for the title of county seat.^[3]

Toward the end of the 20th century only a few business remained in the community of Spink. The Spink Cafe was the center of life in the township and was still a place where farmers would gather. Gary's Repair was a place where people could get the truck or tractor a little work and the old Co-Op that went by the name of Spink Oil was the town's gas station. Spink Oil closed in 1997 and the Spink Cafe was destroyed in a fire in 2019. Today a few homes remain, along with storage facilities for the Union County Dept. of Transportation and a Valley Ag plant and distributor.

A proposed refinery by Hyperion Refining, LLC is now working to build the nation's first new oil refinery in years in the United States, this proposed refinery has created a large split in the corn and bean farmers of Union County. A few family farms were given money for options on the land that makes up the family farms that have been a part of the county since the late 19th century. This split lead to the formation of the save union county group and attracted a lot of media attention.