Sibley

Formed March 5, 1853 (17^th county)

Sibley County (14,842), Gaylord (2,274)

A masonry Classical Revival facility was built in 1917 for Sibley County.  It is at the corner of Court Avenue and 4^th Street.  Minnesota State Highway 19 passes three blocks south of the courthouse.  James A. Burner and William H. Macomber are the architects.  The building was enlarged in 1976.  It features a rotunda dome and a clock above the entrance.  Henderson had the earlier 1879 building and served as county seat until 1915 when Gaylord assumed the role.  The county was formed on March 5, 1853 from Dakota County as the 17^th county.  The county is named for Governor Henry Hastings Sibley.  The county seat is named for a settler, E. W. Gaylord. 

Sibley 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 Sibley, Carver, Dakota, Goodhue, Le Sueur, McLeod, and Scott counties (judicial.) The county is located in southern Minnesota.  Minneapolis, Minnesota is northeast of the county.  The Minnesota River forms its eastern border.  The county center is 2.6 miles Northeast of Gaylord.  The county is surrounded clockwise by McLeod, Carver, Scott, Le Sueur, Nicollet, and Renville counties. 

The area of the county is 588.7 square miles.  It is 53 out of 87 in the state.  It ranks 56 out of 87 in population in the state.  It has a density of 25.2 persons per square mile making it 48 out of 87 in the state.  Sibley County has 57.9% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 169 clips the southeast corner of the county from Le Sueur County, east, to Nicollet County, south.  The county looks like an animal lying on its back with its feet up.  Gaylord is in the southern third of the county.  Gaylord is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 15.3% of the county population.