Lead’s designation on the National Register of Historic Places includes a portion of the community as a Historic District.  This recognition was achieved in 1974.  The Historic District includes the downtown Lead area and portions of the surrounding community.

To achieve and sustain this designation the City of Lead and the South Dakota Office of Historic Preservation surveyed all of the existing homes in the community.  These surveys included comments on architecture, location and preservation.

The survey summaries are available in the Lead Historic Preservation Plan and the complete surveys are available at the Hearst Free Library in downtown Lead.