Wilkin

Formed March 6, 1858 (53^rd county)

Wilkin County (6,513), Breckenridge (3,439)

The 1927 tan brick and masonry Beaux Arts and Art Deco building is on a square at 5^th Street, Dacotah Avenue, 6^th Street, and Oregon Avenue.  United States Highway 75 is 5^th Street in the town.  Buechner and Orth provided the building designs.  A Law Enforcement Center was added in 2006.  Veteran memorials are on the grounds.  There were earlier versions of the courthouse built in 1872 and 1883.  The county was created on March 6, 1858 from parts of Cass and Kittson counties as the 53^rd county with Breckenridge as the only county seat.  The county is named for Civil War hero Colonel Alexander Wilkin.  The county seat is named for United States Vice President John C. Breckinridge. 

Wilkin 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.)  Nine District Court Judges serve Wilkin, Big Stone, Chippewa, Grant, Kandiyohi, Lac qui Parle, Meeker, Pope, Renville, Stevens, Swift, Traverse, and Yellow Medicine counties (judicial.) The county is located on the western border of the state across from North Dakota.  Fargo, North Dakota is directly northwest of the county.  The county center is 11.9 miles Northeast of Breckenridge.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Clay, Otter Tail, Grant, and Traverse counties and North Dakota. 

The area of the county is 751.4 square miles.  It is 34 out of 87 in the state.  It ranks 77 out of 87 in population in the state.  It has a density of 8.7 persons per square mile making it 77 out of 87 in the state.  Wilkin County has 66.4% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 94 clips the northeast corner of the county from Clay County, north, to Otter Tail County, east.  United States Highway 52 is joined with Interstate Highway 94 from Clay to Otter Tail counties.  United States Highway 75 travels north to south from Clay County to Traverse County.  The county is shaped like a vase.  Breckenridge is on the western border of the county.  Breckenridge is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 52.8% of the county population.  This county is in the Wahpeton Micropolitan Statistical Area.