Grant

Formed March 6, 1868 (70^th county)

Grant County (6,075), Elbow Lake (1,275)

The classic Beaux Arts courthouse of red stone and masonry was built in 1905.  Grant County was organized on March 6, 1868 from parts of Stevens, Wilkin, and Traverse counties as the 70^th county.  The courthouse is located at 2^nd Street and Central Avenue.  Central Avenue is United States Highway 59 in the town.  Charles E. Bell and Meno S. Detweiler are the architects.  The facility features a working clock tower.  There was an 1878 courthouse also in Elbow Lake, the only county seat.  The county is named for United States President Ulysses S. Grant.  The county seat is named for a nearby lake. 

Grant 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.)  Nine District Court Judges serve Grant, Big Stone, Chippewa, Kandiyohi, Lac qui Parle, Meeker, Pope, Renville, Stevens, Swift, Traverse, Wilkin, and Yellow Medicine counties (judicial.) The county is in western Minnesota.  Minneapolis, Minnesota is southeast and Fargo, North Dakota is northwest of the county.  The county center is 4.6 miles West-Southwest of Elbow Lake.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Otter Tail, Douglas, Pope, Stevens, Traverse, and Wilkin counties. 

The area of the county is 546.4 square miles.  It is 62 out of 87 in the state.  It ranks 79 out of 87 in population in the state.  It has a density of 11.1 persons per square mile making it 70 out of 87 in the state.  Grant County has 56.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 94 clips the northeast corner of the county from Otter Tail County, north, to Douglas County, east.  United States Highway 52 is joined with Interstate Highway 94 from Otter Tail to Douglas counties.  United States Highway 59 crosses north to south from Otter Tail County to Stevens County.  The county is a rectangle.  Elbow Lake is in the northern third of the county.  Elbow Lake is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 21.0% of the county population.

Wendell