Lac qui Parle

Formed March 6, 1871 (73^rd county)

Lac qui Parle County (6,722), Madison (1,518)

The red brick Richardsonian Romanesque courthouse, built in 1899, is located at the intersection of 6^th Avenue and 6^th Street.  United States Highway 75 passes two blocks to the west of the courthouse.  Buechner and Jacobson are the architects.  The facility features a tower and the grounds have veteran memorials.  The county was organized on March 6, 1871 from Redwood County as the 73^rd county.  Lac qui Parle was the first county seat with an 1870 courthouse until 1889 when Madison assumed the role with an 1886 courthouse.  The county’s name is French for “lake that talks.”  The county seat is named for Madison, Wisconsin.  Lac qui Parle County was the birthplace of 1 Minnesota Governor, Theodore Christianson. 

Lac qui Parle 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 Lac qui Parle, Big Stone, Chippewa, Grant, Kandiyohi, Meeker, Pope, Renville, Stevens, Swift, Traverse, Wilkin, and Yellow Medicine counties (judicial.) The county is on the western border of the state.  South Dakota forms its western border.  The county center is 3.4 miles Northeast of Madison.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Big Stone, Swift, Chippewa, and Yellow Medicine counties and South Dakota. 

The area of the county is 764.9 square miles.  It is 30 out of 87 in the state.  It ranks 76 out of 87 in population in the state.  It has a density of 8.8 persons per square mile making it 76 out of 87 in the state.  Lac qui Parle County has 51.9% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 75 crosses the county north to south from Big Stone County to Yellow Medicine County.  United States Highway 212 goes east to west from Chippewa County to South Dakota.  The county is an overall triangle.  Madison is located in the western half of the county.  Madison is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 22.6% of the county population.  The county is pronounced LOK KEE PARL.