Martin

Formed May 23, 1857 (47^th county)

Martin County (20,024), Fairmont (10,477)

The classic masonry and dark red stone Beaux Arts courthouse was built in 1906.  It is located on Lake Avenue at 2^nd Street.  Minnesota State Highway 26 is 1 block to the south of the site.  Charles E. Bell and Meno S. Detweiler provided the designs.  The structure was under renovation in 2020.  A Security Building was added in 1974.  Veteran memorials are on the grounds.  There were earlier courthouses from 1862 and 1882.  Martin County was founded on May 23, 1857 from parts of Faribault and Brown counties as the 47^th county with Fairmont as the only county seat.  The county is named for settler Henry Martin.  The county seat name is named for the rolling hills in the area. 

Martin 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.)  Nineteen District Court Judges serve Martin, Blue Earth, Brown, Cottonwood, Faribault, Jackson, Lincoln, Lyon, Murray, Nicollet, Nobles, Pipestone, Redwood, Rock, and Watonwan counties (judicial.) Martin County is on the southern border of the state.  Iowa forms its southern border.  Minneapolis, Minnesota is northeast of the county.  The county center is in Fairmont 2.4 miles Northwest of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Watonwan, Blue Earth, and Faribault counties and Iowa and Jackson and Cottonwood counties. 

The area of the county is 709.3 square miles.  It is 40 out of 87 in the state.  It ranks 49 out of 87 in population in the state.  It has a density of 28.2 persons per square mile making it 43 out of 87 in the state.  Martin County has 75.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 90 crosses the county east to west from Faribault County to Jackson County.  The county is a rectangle.  Fairmont is located south and east of center in the county.  Fairmont is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 52.3% of the county population.  This county is in the Fairmont Micropolitan Statistical Area.

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