Lake of the Woods

Formed January 1, 1923 (87^th county)

Lake of the Woods County (6,765), Baudette (957)                

The Modern brown brick and metal courthouse was constructed in 2001 on 8^th Avenue at 1^st Street.  Minnesota State Highway 11 is one block north of the facility.  Widseth, Smith, Nolting and Associates provided the designs.  There were 1910 and 1954 versions of the courthouse.  A Government Center North was added in 2003.  The county was established on January 1, 1923 from Beltrami County as the 87^th and final county with Baudette as the only county seat.  It is named for the lake which straddles the United States-Canadian border.  The county seat is named for trapper Joseph Baudette. 

Lake of the Woods 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-two District Court Judges serve Lake of the Woods, Aitkin, Beltrami, Cass, Clearwater, Crow Wing, Hubbard, Itasca, Kittson, Koochiching, Mahnomen, Marshall, Norman, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake, and Roseau counties (judicial.) The county is on the northern border of the state.  Canada forms its northern border.  The county center is 18.3 miles West of Baudette nearer Williams.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Canada and Koochiching, Beltrami, and Roseau counties. 

The area of the county is 1296.7 square miles.  It is 16 out of 87 in the state.  It ranks 86 out of 87 in population in the state.  It has a density of 2.9 persons per square mile making it 87 out of 87 in the state.  Lake of the Woods County has 29.6% of its population in its incorporated areas.  There are no Interstates or United States Highways in the county.  The county looks like a pipe wrench.  Baudette is on the eastern border of the county.  Baudette is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 25.4% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced BA-DET.