Polk

Formed July 20, 1858 (60^th county)

Polk County (31,194), Crookston (7,488), East Grand Forks (9,177)

The Modern concrete 2008 Justice Center is on Marin Street at United States Highway 75.  The Modern stone and concrete courthouse was erected in 1968 and is on Broadway at Marin Street.  United States Highway 2 is Broadway in the town.  Cecil Griffith provided the designs.  An 1881 and a classic 1900 structure preceded the current one.  A Justice Center was added in 2008.  The county was established on July 20, 1858 from Kittson County as the 60^th county with Crookston as the only county seat.  The county is named for United States President James K. Polk.  The county seat is named for railroad officer William Crooks. 

The area of the county is 1970.4 square miles.  It is 8 out of 87 in the state.  It ranks 34 out of 87 in population in the state.  It has a density of 15.8 persons per square mile making it 63 out of 87 in the state.  Polk County has 68.0% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 2 travels east to west through the county from Clearwater County to North Dakota.  United States Highway 59 goes north to south from Red Lake County to Mahnomen County.  United States Highway 75 passes north to south from Marshall County to Norman County.  The county looks like a reclining chair.  Crookston is located in the southwest quarter of the county.  East Grand Forks is on the northwest border of the county.  Crookston is the county seat and East Grand Forks is the largest city.  Crookston is 24.0% of the county population while East Grand Forks is 29.4% of the county population. 

Polk 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 Polk, Aitkin, Beltrami, Cass, Clearwater, Crow Wing, Hubbard, Itasca, Kittson, Koochiching, Lake of the Woods, Mahnomen, Marshall, Norman, Pennington, Red Lake, and Roseau counties (judicial.) Polk County is in the northwest part of the state on the border with North Dakota.  Grand Forks, North Dakota is directly west of the county.  The county center is 11.3 miles East of Crookston nearer Gentilly.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Marshall, Pennington, Red Lake, Clearwater, Mahnomen, and Norman counties, and North Dakota.  This county is in the Grand Forks Metropolitan Statistical Area.