Lake

Formed January 1, 1923 (55^th county)

Lake County (31,132), Polson (5,143)

A red brick Art Deco building built in 1936 serves as the courthouse.  It is located on 4^th Avenue at 1^st Street.  The courthouse is two blocks south of United States Highway 93 in the town.  Fred A. Brinkman is the building architect.  The grounds have metal eagles and a gazebo.  Lake County was created on January 1, 1923 as the 55^th county with Polson as the only county seat.  The county is named for Flathead Lake.  The county seat is named for local rancher, David Polson. 

Lake County government consists of a sheriff, an administrator, an attorney, a collector, a coroner, an assessor and a clerk (executive).  It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.)  Two District Court Judges serve Lake and Sanders counties and a court clerk serves Lake County (judicial.)  Lake County is in northwest Montana.  Missoula, Montana is directly south of the county.  The county center is 2.7 miles Southeast of Polson.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Flathead, Missoula, and Sanders counties.  The county resembles a capital letter T.  Flathead Lake stands out on its northern border. 

The area of the county is 1494 square miles.  It is 46 out of 56 in the state.  It ranks 9 out of 56 in population in the state.  It has a density of 20.8 persons per square mile making it 6 out of 56 in the state.  Lake County has 25.3% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 93 passes north to south through the county from Flathead County to Missoula County.  Polson is in the northern half of the county.  Polson is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 16.5% of the county population.