Cass

Formed September 1, 1851 (7^th county)

Cass County (30,065), Walker (973), Lake Shore (1,061)                

The 1902 red brick and stone Beaux Arts structure was remodeled in 1961 and enlarged in 1976.  It is on Minnesota Avenue at 3^rd Street.  Minnesota Avenue is Minnesota State Highway 200 in the town.  R. W. Kinney and Detweiler are the architects.  The structure features columns and veterans memorials are on the grounds.  The county was organized on September 1, 1851 as the 7^th county from parts of Dakota and Kittson counties and Mankahto and Wahnata counties (which no longer exist.)  The county seat is named for founder Thomas Barlow Walker.  West Brainerd was the first county seat until 1897 when Walker assumed the role.  The county is named for United States Secretary of State Lewis Cass. 

Cass 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 Cass, Aitkin, Beltrami, 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.  The county is in north central Minnesota.  Minneapolis, Minnesota is southeast and Duluth, Minnesota is east of the county.  The county center is 33.1 miles Southeast of Walker nearer Federal Dam.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Itasca, Aitkin, Crow Wing, Morrison, Todd, Wadena, Hubbard, and Beltrami counties. 

The area of the county is 2017.6 square miles.  It is 6 out of 87 in the state.  It ranks 36 out of 87 in population in the state.  It has a density of 14.9 persons per square mile making it 65 out of 87 in the state.  Cass County has 22.1% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 2 crosses east to west in the county from Itasca County to Hubbard County.  The county looks like the small letter r.  Walker is located in the northwest quarter of the county.  Lake Shore is in the southwest leg of the county.  Walker is the county seat and Lake Shore is the largest city.  Walker is 3.2% of the county population while Lake Shore is 3.5% of the county population.  This county is in the Brainerd Micropolitan Statistical Area.