Norman

Formed February 17, 1881 (79^th county)

Norman County (6,442), Ada (1,746)

The red/brown brick 1903 Richardsonian Romanesque Revival courthouse for Norman County is on the square at 2^nd Avenue, Main Street, 3^rd Avenue, and 1^st Street.  Minnesota State Highway 9 is Main Street in the town.  Omeyer and Thori provided the designs.  The building was enlarged in 1975 with a County Office Building.  The building features a tower and veteran memorials are on the grounds.  There was an 1883 courthouse earlier in Ada, the only county seat.  Norman County was created on February 17, 1881 from Polk County as the 79^th county.  The county is named for the Norwegian settlers.  The county seat is named for the daughter of a railroad officer. 

Norman 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 Norman, Aitkin, Beltrami, Cass, Clearwater, Crow Wing, Hubbard, Itasca, Kittson, Koochiching, Lake of the Woods, Mahnomen, Marshall, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake, and Roseau counties (judicial.) Norman County is on the western border of the state across from North Dakota.  Fargo, North Dakota is southwest of the county.  The county center is 3.5 miles North-Northeast of Ada.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Polk, Mahnomen, Becker, and Clay counties and North Dakota. 

The area of the county is 876.3 square miles.  It is 26 out of 87 in the state.  It ranks 78 out of 87 in population in the state.  It has a density of 7.4 persons per square mile making it 80 out of 87 in the state.  Norman County has 61.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 75 goes north to south in the county from Polk County to Clay County.  The county is an overall rectangle.  Ada is located west of center in the county.  Ada is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 27.1% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced AE-DA.