Steele

Formed February 20, 1855 (30^th county)

Steele County (37,400), Owatonna (26,424)

The classic red brick and stone Romanesque Revival courthouse was built in 1891 and is at Court, Main, Cedar, and Mills streets.  Interstate Highway 35 is 10 blocks to the west of the site.  T. D. Allen provided the building designs.  There was an addition in 1976.  An Administration Center was built in 1994.  The building features a tower and Lady Justice overlooking the entrance.  It was being remodeled in 2020.  Steele County was founded on February 20, 1855 from parts of Rice, Blue Earth, and Le Sueur counties as the 30^th county.  Owatonna has always been the county seat.  It is named for Minnesota pioneer Franklin Steele.  The county seat is Native American for “straight”. 

Steele 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 Steele, Dodge, Fillmore, Freeborn, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Rice, Wabasha, Waseca, and Winona counties (judicial.) The county is in southern Minnesota.  Minneapolis, Minnesota is north of the county.  The county center is 8.7 miles South-Southeast of Owatonna nearer Hope.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Rice, Dodge, Mower, Freeborn, and Waseca counties. 

The area of the county is 429.6 square miles.  It is 79 out of 87 in the state.  It ranks 28 out of 87 in population in the state.  It has a density of 87.1 persons per square mile making it 17 out of 87 in the state.  Steele County has 81.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 35 goes north to south in the county from Rice County to Freeborn County.  United States Highway 14 passes east to west from Dodge County to Waseca County.  United States Highway 218 originates and travels south into Mower County.  The county is a rectangle.  Owatonna is located in the northern third of the county.  Owatonna is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 70.7% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced OE-WA-TAWN-A.  This county is in the Owatonna Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Blooming Prairie