Sibley County, Minnesota

Sibley County, Minnesota

Sibley County, Minnesota, founded in 1853, is located just southwest of the Twin Cities Metro area, in the south-central part of Minnesota.

Sibley County is bordered:

• on the north by Carver County, McLeod County and Renville County,
• on the west by Renville County,
• on the south by Nicollet County, and
• on the east by Le Sueur County and Scott County.

Minnesota Highway 19, running primarily east-west, connects the city of Gaylord with Redwood Falls to the west, and U.S. Highway 169 to the east.

Minnesota Highway 22, running north-south, connects the city of Gaylord with Glencoe to the north, and St. Peter to the southeast.

Henry Hastings Sibley

Sibley County was named after Henry Hastings Sibley, who was not only:

• the first Governor of the State of Minnesota – elected in 1858,
• but also a representative to the United States Congress for the territories of Minnesota and Wisconsin from 1849 to 1853.

Henry Hastings Sibley was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1811, to parents of English descent who had migrated from New England.

Henry Sibley’s father was a judge, and Henry studied law while working at his father’s office.

Like many of his day, Henry Sibley worked in the fur trade industry.

In 1839, Henry Sibley purportedly married the granddaughter of a Dakota Indian chief, and the union produced a daughter in 1841.

However, Henry Sibley’s first marriage apparently did not last, and in 1843, Henry Sibley married the daughter of the military commander at Fort Snelling.

During the Civil War, Henry Sibley was appointed as a Colonel in the Minnesota militia, and was ordered to defend the Minnesota River settlements from the Dakota Indian tribes.

In the ensuing battles, over 2,000 Dakota Indians were captured, of whom 303 received death sentences by a military tribunal.

38 Dakota warriors were hanged in Mankato on December 26, 1862.

The remainder of the Dakota warriors had their death sentences commuted by President Abraham Lincoln.

Henry Sibley died in St. Paul in 1891.

Sibley County Courthouses

The current Sibley County Courthouse, built in the city of Gaylord in 1916 in the Neoclassical / Spanish Colonial Revival style, is another architectural masterpiece on the National Register of Historic Places – which should not be missed if you are ever in the area.

The original Sibley County courthouse – built in 1879 in the Italianate style – is also on the National Register of Historic Places.

Sibley County Population

Sibley County, Minnesota had a population of 15,226 as of the 2010 Census, a decrease of less than 1% from the 2000 census population of 15,356.

Sibley County Primary Cities

The city of Gaylord, founded in 1883, became the county seat for Sibley County in 1915, and had a population of 2,305 as of the 2010 Census.

Other primary cities in Sibley County, Minnesota include Arlington, Gibbon, Green Isle, Henderson, New Auburn, and Winthrop.