Nobles

Formed May 23, 1857 (50^th county)

Nobles County (22,294), Worthington (13,946)

The Modern concrete and masonry building, built in 1979, is on 10^th Street at 3^rd Avenue.  Minnesota State Highway S66 is 10^th Street.  A Justice Center was added in 2002.  A. J. Berreau & Associates are the architects.  The courthouse features turrets.  The courthouse was renovated in 2017.  Nobles County was founded on May 23, 1857 from Brown County as the 50^th county with Worthington as the only county seat.  The county is named for Legislator William H. Nobles.  The county seat is named for the mother-in-law of a settler. 

Nobles 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 Nobles, Blue Earth, Brown, Cottonwood, Faribault, Jackson, Lincoln, Lyon, Martin, Murray, Nicollet, Pipestone, Redwood, Rock, and Watonwan counties (judicial.) The county is in the southwest part of the state.  Iowa is on its southern border.  The county center is 14 miles Northwest of Worthington nearer Reading.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Murray, Cottonwood, and Jackson counties and Iowa and Rock County. 

The area of the county is 715.4 square miles.  It is 36 out of 87 in the state.  It ranks 44 out of 87 in population in the state.  It has a density of 31.2 persons per square mile making it 39 out of 87 in the state.  Nobles County has 79.6% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 90 travels east to west in the county from Jackson County to Rock County.  United States Highway 59 goes north to south from Murray County to Iowa.  The county is a rectangle.  Worthington is in the southeast quarter of the county.  Worthington is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 62.6% of the county population.  This county is in the Worthington Metropolitan Statistical Area.