Carlton

Formed May 23, 1857 (43^rd county)

Carlton County (36,201), Carlton (950), Cloquet (12,566)

The tan brick and masonry Classical Second Renaissance Revival facility was constructed in 1924.  It is located on Walnut Avenue at 3^rd Street.  Minnesota State Highway 45 is Walnut Avenue.  Clyde W. Kelley provided the building designs.  The Law Enforcement Center sits next door.  There was also an 1890 courthouse in Carlton.  Twin Lakes (1857), Thomson (1870), and Carlton (1890) have all served as the county seat.  Carlton County was founded on May 23, 1857 from parts of Pine and Saint Louis counties as the 43^rd county.  The county and county seat are named for settler Reuben B. Carlton. 

Carlton 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.)  Fourteen District Court Judges serve Carlton, Cook, Lake, and St. Louis counties (judicial.) The county is situated in northeast Minnesota.  The county is in northeast Minnesota directly southwest of Duluth, Minnesota.  Wisconsin is on its eastern border.  The county center is 15.7 miles Southwest of Carlton nearer Mahtowa.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Saint Louis County and Wisconsin and Pine and Aitkin counties. 

The area of the county is 860.3 square miles.  It is 28 out of 87 in the state.  It ranks 30 out of 87 in population in the state.  It has a density of 42.1 persons per square mile making it 33 out of 87 in the state.  Carlton County has 52.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 35 crosses the county northeast to south from Saint Louis County to Pine County.  The county is a rectangle.  The City of Carlton is in the northeast quarter of the county.  Cloquet is near the northeast border of the county.  Carlton is the county seat and Cloquet is the largest city.  Carlton is 2.6% of the county population while Cloquet is 34.7% of the county population.  The largest city is pronounced KLOE-KET.  This county is in the Duluth Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Wright