Scott

Formed March 5, 1853 (16^th county)

Scott County (150,930), Shakopee (43,704)

The Modern tan brick and concrete courthouse was built in 1976 at 4^th Avenue and Fuller Street.  United States Highway 169 Business is four blocks to the north of the courthouse.  The current courthouse used the 1857 courthouse with its multiple renovations as the basis for its design.  There are versions that credit the 1857 and 1927 courthouses as separate structures.  Patch, Erickson, Madson, Watson, Inc., are the current courthouse designers.  A Justice Center was built in 1998.  Both the courthouse and Justice Center were being renovated in 2020.  The county was established on March 5, 1853 from Dakota County as the 16^th county with Shakopee as the county seat.  It is named for Civil War General Winfield Scott.  The county seat is named for a Native American chief. 

Scott 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.)  Thirty-nine District Court Judges serve Scott, Carver, Dakota, Goodhue, Le Sueur, McLeod, and Sibley counties (judicial.) The county is in southeast Minnesota.  Minneapolis, Minnesota is directly north of the county.  The Minnesota River forms its western and northern borders.  The county center is 9.3 miles South of Shakopee nearer Jordan.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Hennepin, Dakota, Rice, Le Sueur, Sibley, and Carver counties. 

The area of the county is 356.7 square miles.  It is 86 out of 87 in the state.  It ranks 9 out of 87 in population in the state.  It has a density of 423.1 persons per square mile making it 6 out of 87 in the state.  Scott County has 88.0% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 169 travels north to south in the county from Hennepin County to Le Sueur County.  The county is shaped like a plow.  Shakopee is located on the northern border of the county.  Shakopee is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 21.5% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced SHAE-KOE-PEE.  This county is in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul-Bloomington Metropolitan Statistical Area.

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