Aitkin

Formed May 23, 1857 (41^st county)

Aitkin County (15,703), Aitkin (2,163)                

The tan brick Beaux Arts and Modern courthouse facility was built in 1932 and sits at 2^nd Street, 2^nd Avenue, 1^st Street, and 3^rd Avenue.  Minnesota State Highway 210 is 2^nd Street.  Toltz, King, and Day are the architects.  A Justice Center was added in 1990 and the courthouse is being enlarged in 2020.  The building features faux columns and veteran memorials on the grounds.  1858 and 1888 courthouses preceded the current one all in Aitkin, the only county seat.  Aitkin County was organized on May 23, 1857 from parts of Pine and Ramsey counties as the 41^st county.  It is named for fur trader William Alexander Aitkin.  The county seat is named for the county. 

Aitkin 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 Aitkin, Beltrami, Cass, Clearwater, Crow Wing, Hubbard, Itasca, Kittson, Koochiching, Lake of the Woods, Mahnomen, Marshall, Norman, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake, and Roseau counties (judicial.) The county is situated in northeast Minnesota.  Minneapolis, Minnesota is south and Duluth, Minnesota is east of the county.  The county center is 16.2 miles Northeast of Aitkin nearer McGregor.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Itasca, Saint Louis, Carlton, Pine, Kanabec, Mille Lacs, Crow Wing, and Cass counties. 

The area of the county is 1819.3 square miles.  It is 9 out of 87 in the state.  It ranks 53 out of 87 in population in the state.  It has a density of 8.6 persons per square mile making it 78 out of 87 in the state.  Aitkin County has 21.8% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 2 clips the northeast corner of the county from Itasca County, north, to Saint Louis County, east.  United States Highway 169 goes north to south from Itasca County to Mille Lacs County.  The county is shaped like the number 9.  The City of Aitkin is located near the western border.  Aitkin is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 13.8% of the county population.  The county and county seat are pronounced AET-KIN.