Itasca

Formed October 27, 1849 (3^rd county)

Itasca County (45,018), Grand Rapids (11,120)

The Modern building was built of concrete in 1951.  It is located near the intersection of 4^th Street and 1^st Avenue.  United States Highway 2 is 4^th Street in the town.  There were 1892 and 1894 courthouses earlier in the county.  Jyring & Jurenes and A. G. Wahlberg are the architects.  The building was enlarged in 1969 and 1978.  The county was formed on October 27, 1849 as the 3^rd county.  The county is named for the lake which gets its name from the Latin for “truth.”  The county seat is named for river rapids which have been eliminated with the establishment of a river dam.  Grand Rapids has always been the county seat. 

Itasca 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 Itasca, Aitkin, Beltrami, Cass, Clearwater, Crow Wing, Hubbard, Kittson, Koochiching, Lake of the Woods, Mahnomen, Marshall, Norman, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake, and Roseau counties (judicial.) Itasca County is in northeast Minnesota.  Duluth, Minnesota is southeast and Minneapolis, Minnesota is south of the county.  The county center is 26.8 miles North of Grand Rapids nearer Marcell.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Koochiching, Saint Louis, Aitkin, Cass, and Beltrami counties. 

The area of the county is 2665.1 square miles.  It is 3 out of 87 in the state.  It ranks 22 out of 87 in population in the state.  It has a density of 16.9 persons per square mile making it 61 out of 87 in the state.  Itasca County has 50.3% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 2 crosses southeast to west in the county from Aitkin County to Cass County.  United States Highway 71 clips the northwest corner from Koochiching County, north, to Beltrami County, west.  United States Highway 169 goes east to southwest from St. Louis County to Aitkin County.  The county looks like a fat number 7.  Grand Rapids is in the southern quarter of the county.  Grand Rapids is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 24.7% of the county population.  The county is pronounced IE-TAS-KA.

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