Stearns County, Minnesota

photo of General Stevens - Stearns County, Minnesota

Stearns County, Minnesota

Stearns County, Minnesota, established in 1855, is located northwest of the Twin Cities Metro area.

Stearns County is bordered:

  • on the north by Morrison County and Todd County,
  • on the west by Pope County,
  • on the south by Kandiyohi County, Meeker County, and Wright County, and
  • on the east by Benton County and Sherburne County.

Interstate Highway 94, U.S. Highway 55, and U.S. Highway 10, are the primary east-west transportation routes.

U.S. Highway 71, and Minnesota Highways 4, 15, and 23, are the primary north-south transportation routes.

Stearns County was originally called Stevens County after Isaac I. Stevens, the first governor of the Washington territory, and a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War, who had conducted an expedition to the area in 1853.

However, the county’s name was later changed to Stearns County – perhaps as a result of a clerical error, perhaps intentionally – after local businessman Charles Thomas Stearns, a member of the Minnesota Territorial Council who represented Minnesota’s 3rd District from 1854-55.

Charles Stearns moved to St. Cloud in 1856, where he operated the “Stearns Hotel”.

Stearns County Courthouse

The current Stearns County Courthouse is located at 725 Courthouse Square – Service Center, or 815 Courthouse Square – Case Intake/Payment Center, St. Cloud, MN 56303.

Stearns County Population

Stearns County, Minnesota had a population of 150,642 as of the 2010 Census, an increase of 38.6% over the 2000 Census population of 133,166.

Stearns County Primary Cities

St. Cloud, incorporated in 1856, is the county seat for Stearns County, Minnesota, and was named after Saint-Cloud, the Paris suburb where Napoleon Bonaparte had his favorite palace.

In the 19th century, St. Cloud was a stopping point on the oxcart trail used by fur traders between the Canadian border at Pembina, North Dakota, and St. Paul.

The population of St. Cloud in 2010 was 65,842.

Other cities located in Stearns County, Minnesota include Avon, Belgrade, Collegeville, Coldspring, Freeport, Georgeville, Melrose, Sauk Center, St. Joseph, and Waite Park.

Copyright 2018 – All Rights Reserved

Gary C. Dahle – Attorney at Law
2704 County Road 10
Mounds View, MN 55112

Phone: 763-780-8390  Fax: 763-780-1735   gary@dahlelaw.com

Links:

Minnesota Counties.

Minnesota Communities served.

Western North Dakota Counties – see http://www.dahlelawnorthdakota.com/north-dakota-counties/