The city of Garretson started as a village in Palisade State Park in 1872. The railroad company decided to build a diversion point, (joining of two railroad tracks) and switching yards where Garretson is now located. Railroad officials offered the business people of Palisades free lots if they would move their business to the new town site. The new city was named after A.S. Garretson, a millionaire railroad investor from Sioux City, Iowa. The City of Garretson began in 1889, the same year South Dakota became a state. Some buildings and homes were moved from Palisades and many new ones built. Several businesses were built of hand quarried quartzite blocks. Many of these unique quartzite buildings were on the east side of Main Street and were destroyed in a fire in 1971. Today Garretson has a population of 1,228 citizens.