Stearns

Formed February 20, 1855 (29^th county)

Stearns County (158,297), Saint Cloud (68,882)                

The unique brown brick Beaux Arts courthouse was built 1922 on Courthouse Square, 7^th Avenue at 1^st Street.  Minnesota State Highway 23 is three blocks southeast of the location.  Leo W. Schefer was the architect.  The building was renovated in 1991.  The structure features columns, a dome, and a working clock.  The Justice Center sits next door.  An Administration Building was added in 1990.  Saint Cloud has always been the county seat.  The county was formed on February 20, 1855 from parts of Cass, Nicollet, and Sibley counties and Pierce County (which no longer exists) as the 29^th county.  There was an 1864 courthouse earlier.  The county is named for politician Charles Rogers Stearns.  The county seat is named for Napoleon’s palace. 

Stearns 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-five District Court Judges serve Stearns, Becker, Benton, Clay, Douglas, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Otter Tail, Todd, and Wadena counties (judicial.) The county is in central Minnesota.  Minneapolis, Minnesota is southeast of the county.  The Mississippi River forms its eastern border.  The county center is 24 miles West of Saint Cloud nearer Albany.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Morrison, Benton, Sherburne, Wright, Meeker, Kandiyohi, Pope, Douglas, and Todd counties. 

The area of the county is 1344.5 square miles.  It is 14 out of 87 in the state.  It ranks 8 out of 87 in population in the state.  It has a density of 117.7 persons per square mile making it 13 out of 87 in the state.  Stearns County has 76.4% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 94 passes southeast to northwest in the county from Wright County to Todd County.  United States Highway 52 is joined with Interstate Highway 94 from Wright to Todd counties.  The county looks like a fat hatchet.  Saint Cloud is located on the eastern border of the county and extends into Benton and Sherburne counties.  Saint Cloud is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 43.5% of the county population.  This county is in the Saint Cloud Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Sartell