Houston

Formed February 23, 1854 (18^th county)

Houston County (18,849), Caledonia (2,849), La Crescent (5,339)                

A stone Romanesque courthouse for Houston County was built in 1885 and sited on the square at Marshall and Washington streets.  Minnesota State Highway 44 is eight blocks to the west of the square.  Maybury and Sons provided the designs.  The building was enlarged in 1966 and 1977.  A Justice Center was added in 2018.  The courthouse features a tower and veterans memorials are on the grounds.  The county was created on February 23, 1854 from Fillmore County as the 18^th county with Caledonia as the only county seat.  The county is named for Tennessee Governor Samuel Houston who was later President of Texas.  The county seat’s name comes from the Latin for “Scotland.” 

Houston 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-seven District Court Judges serve Houston, Dodge, Fillmore, Freeborn, Mower, Olmsted, Rice, Steele, Wabasha, Waseca, and Winona counties (judicial.) The county is in the southeast corner of the state on the border with both Iowa and Wisconsin.  The Mississippi River forms its eastern border.  The county center is 6.4 miles Northeast of Caledonia.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Winona County and Wisconsin and Iowa and Fillmore County. 

The area of the county is 558.4 square miles.  It is 59 out of 87 in the state.  It ranks 51 out of 87 in population in the state.  It has a density of 33.8 persons per square mile making it 37 out of 87 in the state.  Houston County has 62.6% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 61 clips the northeast corner of the county from Winona County, north, to Wisconsin, east.  The county is an overall rectangle.  Caledonia is slightly south of center in the county.  La Crescent is in the northeast corner of the county and extends into Winona County.  Caledonia is the county seat and La Crescent is the largest city.  Caledonia is 15.1% of the county population while La Crescent is 28.3% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced KAL-E-DON-YA.  The largest city is pronounced LA KRES-SENT.  This county is in the La Crosse Metropolitan Statistical Area.

La Crescent