Carpenter is an unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in Clark County, South Dakota

Clark County, South Dakota

As of the census of 2000, there were 4,143 people, 1,598 households, and 1,110 families residing in the county. The population density was 4 people per square mile . There were 1,880 housing units at an average density of 2 per square mile...

, United States. Although not tracked by the Census Bureau

United States Census Bureau

The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, Carpenter has been assigned the ZIP code

ZIP Code

ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

 of 57322.

Despite the city's size of one square city block, businesses such as Wheat Growers, the Carpenter Cafe, Dick's Garage, and the post office flourish here.

Carpenter was named by postmaster John C. Opsahl for his recently deceased friend, G. W. Carpenter, a land office agent in nearby Watertown

Watertown, South Dakota

Watertown is a city in and the county seat of Codington County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 21,482 at the 2010 census. It is also the principal city of the Watertown Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Codington and Hamlin counties...

, Codington County

Codington County, South Dakota

As of the census of 2000, there were 25,897 people, 10,357 households, and 6,877 families residing in the county. The population density was 38 people per square mile . There were 11,324 housing units at an average density of 16 per square mile...

.Feature Detail Report for: Carpenter, Geographic Names Information System, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior, http://geonames.usgs.gov/domestic/ U.S. federal censuses enumerate a George W. Carpenter, born c1833-1834 in New York, in Waterton from 1880-1910; he was a veteran of the American Civil War, with service in the 21st and the 116th New York Infantry regiments.