Crow Wing

Formed May 23, 1857 (45^th county)

Crow Wing County (66,122), Brainerd (14,404)                

The modern Justice Center was built in 2006 on Laurel and 3^rd streets to augment the masonry Classical Revival 1920 courthouse.  Minnesota State Highway 210 is two blocks north of the site.  The courthouse masonry was built at Laurel Street between 4^th and 5^th streets following an 1872 facility.  Alden and Harris provided the courthouse designs.  The courthouse has veteran memorials beside it.  The county was organized on May 23, 1857 from Ramsey County as the 45^th county with Brainerd as the only county seat.  The county is named for the Crow Wing River.  The county seat is named for author Ann Eliza Brainerd Smith.  Crow Wing County was the birthplace of 1 Minnesota Governor, C. Elmer Anderson. 

Crow Wing 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 Crow Wing, Aitkin, Beltrami, Cass, Clearwater, 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.  Crow Wing County is in central Minnesota.  The geographical center of Minnesota is 10 miles southwest of Brainerd in the county.  Minneapolis, Minnesota is southeast and Duluth, Minnesota is east of the county.  The county center is 16 miles North-Northeast of Brainerd nearer Breezy Point.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Aitkin, Mille Lacs, Morrison, and Cass counties. 

The area of the county is 996.6 square miles.  It is 20 out of 87 in the state.  It ranks 15 out of 87 in population in the state.  It has a density of 66.4 persons per square mile making it 21 out of 87 in the state.  Crow Wing County has 58.1% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 169 cuts the southeast corner from Aitkin County, east, to Mille Lac County, south.  The county is overall rectangular.  Brainerd is located in the southwest quarter of the county.  Brainerd is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 21.8% of the county population.  This county is in the Brainerd Micropolitan Statistical Area.