Formed January 4, 1873 (18th county)
Rolette County (12,192), Rolla (1,219)
The Modern tan brick courthouse replaced an earlier wooden one. It was built in 1960. The structure is on 2nd Street at 1st Avenue. United States Highway 281 passes one block to the southeast of the courthouse. Brunner, Hoeffel & Bohrer provided the building designs. The previous courthouse was a school built in 1902 and converted to the courthouse in 1908. The county was formed on January 4, 1873 as the 18th county. Dunsith (1884), St. John (1885), and Rolla (1889) have all served as the county seat. The county is named for settler, Joe Rolette. Rolla is a derivative of the county name. Rolette County is the birthplace of 1 North Dakota governor; Allen I. Olson.
Rolette County government consists of a recorder, a sheriff, an attorney, and a treasurer (executive). It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.) Seven District Court Judges serve Rolette, Benson, Bottineau, Cavalier, McHenry, Pembina, Pierce, Ramsey, Renville, Towner, and Walsh counties and a court clerk serves Rolette County (judicial.) The county is on the northern border with Canada. Minot, North Dakota is southwest and Grand Forks, North Dakota is southeast of the county. The county center is 12.2 miles West-Southwest of Rolla nearer Belcourt. The county is surrounded clockwise by Canada and Towner, Pierce, and Bottineau counties.
The area of the county is 902 square miles. It is 44 out of 53 in the state. It ranks 11 out of 53 in population in the state. It has a density of 13.5 persons per square mile making it 8 out of 53 in the state. Rolette County has 22.0% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 281 originates in the county and heads east into Towner County. The county is an overall rectangle. Rolla is located in the northeast quarter of the county. Rolla is the county seat and the largest city. It is 10.0% of the county population. The county is pronounced ROE-LET. The county seat is pronounced ROL-LA.
Dunseith
Mylo
Rolette
Rolla
St John
