Blue Earth

Formed March 5, 1853 (10^th county)

Blue Earth County (69,129), Mankato (44,508)

The classic stone and masonry French and Italianate Renaissance courthouse was built in 1889, on 4^th, Walnut, 5^th, Hickory streets.  United States Highway 169 is five blocks to the northwest of the site.  Healy and Allen are the architects.  The building was renovated in 1919, 1929, 1964, 1988, 2004 and is under renovation in 2020.  A Justice Center was built in 2009.  The structure features a tower, a balcony, and Lady Justice on top.  It sits on a hill overlooking the city and river.  The county was established on March 5, 1853 from parts of Dakota County and Native American Territory as the 10^th county with Mankato as the only county seat.  The county is named for the Blue Earth River.  It is also the namesake for the county seat of Faribault County.  The county seat name is Native American for “blue earth.” 

Blue Earth 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.)  Nineteen District Court Judges serve Blue Earth, Brown, Cottonwood, Faribault, Jackson, Lincoln, Lyon, Martin, Murray, Nicollet, Nobles, Pipestone, Redwood, Rock, and Watonwan counties (judicial.) The county is situated in northeast Minnesota.  The county is in southern Minnesota.  Minneapolis, Minnesota is northeast of the county.  The Minnesota River is its northwest border.  The county center is 17.7 miles South of Mankato nearer Mapleton.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Nicollet, Le Sueur, Waseca, Faribault, Martin, Watonwan, and Brown counties. 

The area of the county is 752.4 square miles.  It is 33 out of 87 in the state.  It ranks 13 out of 87 in population in the state.  It has a density of 91.9 persons per square mile making it 16 out of 87 in the state.  Blue Earth County has 81.0% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 14 crosses the county east to west from Waseca County to Nicollet County.  United States Highway 169 travels north to south from Nicollet County to Faribault County.  The county is a rectangle with the northwest corner cut out.  Mankato is on the northern border of the county and extends into Le Sueur and Nicollet counties.  Mankato is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 64.4% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced MAN-KAE-TOE.  This county is in the Mankato-North Mankato Metropolitan Statistical Area.

North Mankato