Commissioner Michael Johnson

Michael Johnson
8 Van Buren
Deadwood, SD 57732
mrjohns@rrv.net
(605) 920-8818
Term (May 2023 through April 2026)

Father Michael Johnson was appointed to the City Commission following the loss of then Mayor Chuck Turbiville. He is since entering his second full-term and is the commissioner of Public Works & Utilities, Parking and Transportation and Deadwood History Board Member. He is presently serving on the Days of '76 Museum Board, Days of '76 Carriage Board and Deadwood Alive Board.  He previously served six years on the Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission, including three years as chair.

Father Mike, originally from Halstad, Minnesota, earned a degree in speech and theater from Moorhead State College. He has a fascinating background having worked as a ranch hand, bartender, sold high-end men’s suits, taught college courses, operated a summer theater, and for twenty years traveled the world on church missions. He was also the mime in resident for the State of South Dakota Arts Council after studying mime in Paris under Marcel Marceau, the world’s greatest mime.

Mike has always been a history buff and loved Deadwood. In the early to mid-1970s, he lived and worked in and around Deadwood as director of the Company of Fine Arts organization and the Centennial Theatre. For seven years he worked at the Rancher Bar & Lounge in St. Onge and as ranch hand for the Anderson/Ridley families in the area.

Mike was ordained in the ministry in 1987 and in 2012 moved back to Deadwood as priest at St. John’s Episcopal Church, the oldest continuously operated church in the Black Hills. He is active in the community as well as the Main Street Initiative program.