Douglas

Formed March 8, 1858 (54^th county)

Douglas County (39,002), Alexandria (14,349)

The classic Romanesque Revival courthouse was erected in 1875 and enlarged in 1895, 1940, and 1972.  The structure is on Douglas Street, 7^th Avenue, Elm Street, and 8^th Avenue.  Minnesota State Highway 29 is two blocks to the east of the courthouse.  Buechner and Jacobson were the designers of this red brick and stone structure.  The building features a tower.  Douglas County was established on March 8, 1858 from parts of Cass and Kittson counties as the 54^th county with Alexandria as the only county seat.  The county is named for Illinois Senator Stephan A. Douglas.  The county seat is named for settler Alexander Kinkaid. 

Douglas 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-five District Court Judges serve Douglas, Becker, Benton, Clay, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Otter Tail, Stearns, Todd, and Wadena counties (judicial.) Douglas County is located in western Minnesota.  Minneapolis, Minnesota is southeast and Fargo, North Dakota is northwest of the county.  The county center is 4 miles Northwest of Alexandria nearer Garfield.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Otter Tail, Todd, Stearns, Pope, Stevens, and Grant counties. 

The area of the county is 634.3 square miles.  It is 48 out of 87 in the state.  It ranks 27 out of 87 in population in the state.  It has a density of 61.5 persons per square mile making it 25 out of 87 in the state.  Douglas County has 48.9% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 94 crosses the county east to west from Todd County to Grant County.  The county is a rectangle.  Alexandria is in the southeast quarter of the county.  Alexandria is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 36.8% of the county population.  This county is in the Alexandria Micropolitan Statistical Area.