Freeborn

Formed February 20, 1855 (24^th county)

Freeborn County (30,901), Albert Lea (18,495)                

The red brick and stone Richardsonian Romanesque courthouse was built in 1888 and augmented by a Justice Center in 2006.  The courthouse was remodeled and enlarged in 1953 and 1975 and renovated in 2005.  It is on Broadway Avenue, College Street, Newton Avenue, and Pearl Street.  United States Highway 65 is Broadway Avenue in the town.  C. A. Dunham provided the designs.  Veterans memorials are on the grounds.  The county was formed on February 20, 1855 from parts of Blue Earth and Rice counties as the 24^th county.  Albert Lea has always been the county seat.  The county is named for Minnesota Legislator William Freeborn.  The county seat is named for surveyor Albert Miller Lea. 

Freeborn County government consists of a sheriff, an administrator, an attorney, a treasurer, an auditor, an assessor and a clerk (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Twenty-seven District Court Judges serve Freeborn, Dodge, Fillmore, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Rice, Steele, Wabasha, Waseca, and Winona counties (judicial.) The county is on the southern border with Iowa.  Minneapolis, Minnesota is north of the county.  The county center is in Albert Lea 3.6 miles Northeast of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Steele, Dodge, and Mower counties and Iowa and Faribault and Waseca counties. 

The area of the county is 707.6 square miles.  It is 41 out of 87 in the state.  It ranks 35 out of 87 in population in the state.  It has a density of 43.7 persons per square mile making it 31 out of 87 in the state.  Freeborn County has 73.6% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 35 goes north to south through the county from Steele County to Iowa.  Interstate Highway 90 travels east to west from Mower County to Faribault County.  United States Highway 65 originates and heads south into Iowa.  United States Highway 69 originates and goes south into Iowa.  The county is a rectangle.  Albert Lea is located slightly south of center in the county.  Albert Lea is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 59.9% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced AL-BERT LEE.  This county is in the Albert Lea Micropolitan Statistical Area.