Kittson County is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

in the northwestern corner of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

along the Canada–US border, south of the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

province of

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,207. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

is Hallock.

History

Evidence of occupation dating back 1800 years has been confirmed through archaeological expeditions done in the 1930s and 1970s around the burial mounds on the sand ridges in the eastern part of the county, which date to the

Woodland Period In the classification of :category:Archaeological cultures of North America, archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 Common Era, BCE to European con ...

. Evidence has been found that the Laurel, Arvilla, St. Croix, and Blackduck complexes were the area's early occupants. About 400 years ago, the

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...

Assiniboine The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakoda ...

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...

and

Ojibway The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

inhabited the county. The early explorers of the region were fur traders. Pembina, North Dakota's oldest settlement, across the Red River from Kittson County, dates from 1797, when the first trading post was established by Charles Baptiste Chaboillez of the

Northwest Fur Company The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great wea ...

. The

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay ( crj, text=ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, translit=Wînipekw; crl, text=ᐐᓂᐹᒄ, translit=Wînipâkw; iu, text=ᑲᖏᖅᓱᐊᓗᒃ ᐃᓗᐊ, translit=Kangiqsualuk ilua or iu, text=ᑕᓯᐅᔭᕐᔪᐊᖅ, translit=Tasiujarjuaq; french: b ...

and American Fur Companies were also in Pembina as the fur trading industry increased. The fur traders and

voyageurs The voyageurs (; ) were 18th and 19th century French Canadians who engaged in the transporting of furs via canoe during the peak of the North American fur trade. The emblematic meaning of the term applies to places (New France, including the ' ...

traveled on the eastern side of the Red.

Alexander Henry the younger Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

, who erected a fort for the North West Company in Pembina, is thought to be the first white man to test agriculture in the valley.

Joe Rolette Joseph Rolette, Jr. (23 October 1820 – 16 May 1871) was an American fur trader and politician during Minnesota's territorial era and the Civil War. His father was Jean Joseph Rolette, often referred to as Joe Rolette the Elder, a Fr ...

, who started a fur post for the American Fur Company in Pembina, and Norman W. Kittson (for whom the county is named), were two early entrepreneurs who opened this area by developing the Red River Ox Cart trails and broadening the use of oxcarts. The need for oxcarts diminished as steamboats became the new mode for transporting furs and supplies. The railroad eventually replaced the steamboats. Pembina County was one of five large counties the

Minnesota Territory The Territory of Minnesota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 3, 1849, until May 11, 1858, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Minnesota and west ...

legislature established on October 27, 1849. It was not organized at that time. On March 9, 1878, the legislature renamed Pembina County Kittson County. On February 25, 1879, Kittson County was divided, creating Marshall County. The county seat, Hallock, was organized in 1880. Kittson County was further diminished in 1894 when

Roseau County Roseau County () (pronounced row - so) is a county in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Minnesota, along the Canada–US border. As of the 2020 census, the population was 15,331. Its county seat is Roseau. Roseau County borders the C ...

was partitioned off. Kittson County has retained its present boundaries since 1894. St. Vincent, which is directly across the Red River from Pembina, was incorporated in 1857, just before statehood. In 1878, the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad line reached St. Vincent and opened the area to settlement. With the railroad coming through, settlers began arriving to stake their claims. Many of the earliest settlers in what became Pembina and St. Vincent were Métis, going back to the late 18th century. The railway extended through the western part of the county, with Donaldson, Kennedy, Hallock, Northcote, Humboldt and

St. Vincent Saint Vincent may refer to: People Saints * Vincent of Saragossa (died 304), a.k.a. Vincent the Deacon, deacon and martyr * Saint Vincenca, 3rd century Roman martyress, whose relics are in Blato, Croatia * Vincent, Orontius, and Victor (died 305) ...

along the line. The eastern part of the county was settled in the early 1900s. The Soo Line railroad was completed in 1904 and the communities of Karlstad,

Halma Halma (from the Greek word ἅλμα meaning "jump") is a strategy board game invented in 1883 or 1884 by George Howard Monks, an American thoracic surgeon at Harvard Medical School. His inspiration was the English game ''Hoppity'' which was ...

, Bronson, Lancaster, Orleans and Noyes were established. Scandinavians, Ukrainians, Polish, Scottish, Irish, English, Germans, French Canadians,

Canadian Gaelic Canadian Gaelic or Cape Breton Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig Chanada, or ), often known in Canadian English simply as Gaelic, is a collective term for the dialects of Scottish Gaelic spoken in Atlantic Canada. Scottish Gaels were settled in Nova Scot ...

speakers from

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, and Métis all contributed to the county's melting pot. Once home to over 10,000 people, the county population declined below 5,000 in 2006.

Historic sites

Three sites in the county are listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

: the St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, in Caribou Township; the

burial mounds A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built ...

known as the " Lake Bronson Site", in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and

Percy The English surname Percy is of Norman origin, coming from Normandy to England, United Kingdom. It was from the House of Percy, Norman lords of Northumberland, derives from the village of Percy-en-Auge in Normandy. From there, it came into use ...

Townships; and the

Lake Bronson State Park Lake Bronson State Park is a state park off of Kittson County Highway 28 East near Lake Bronson in the northwestern corner of Minnesota. Geology The park is now dominated by Lake Bronson, and represents a transition between prairie and forest wh ...

WPA WPA may refer to: Computing *Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard *Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing * Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada * Windows Performance An ...

/Rustic Style Historic Resources, which include an observation tower and several buildings. Lake Bronson State Park also has interpretive sites for the tower, a pioneer cemetery and the

camp.

Geography

Kittson County is in Minnesota's northwest corner, on the borders of

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The Red River flows north along the county's western border. The South Fork of Two Rivers flows east through the central part of the county on its way to discharge into the Red; it meets the Middle Fork at Hallock, and the combined flow meets the North Fork a few miles east of the Red. The Joe River flows northwest out of the county into Canada, to discharge into the Red a few miles past the international border. The county's terrain consists of low rolling hills, devoted to agriculture.''Kittson County MN'' Google Maps (accessed March 16, 2019)
/ref> The terrain slopes to the north and west, with its highest point near the southeast corner at 1,079' (329m) ASL. The county has an area of , of which is land and (0.4%) is water. Kittson County was once part of glacial

Lake Agassiz Lake Agassiz was a large glacial lake in central North America. Fed by glacial meltwater at the end of the last glacial period, its area was larger than all of the modern Great Lakes combined. First postulated in 1823 by William H. Keating, i ...

. Evidence of this prehistoric lake can still be seen in the county's topography. Remnants of McCauleyville Beach can be found in the eastern part of the county, an area of sandy soil and sand ridges. Other evidence of the glacier and Lake Agassiz is the approximately 140' drop in elevation from the eastern part of the county to the western part, near the Red River Valley, with its proliferation of black rich soil. Lake Bronson is a manmade reservoir, completed in 1937.

Major highways

U.S. Highway 59 U.S. Route 59 (US 59) is a north–south United States highway (though it was signed east–west in parts of Texas). A latecomer to the U.S. numbered route system, US 59 is now a border-to-border route, part of the NAFTA superhighway, NAFTA ...

U.S. Highway 75 U.S. Route 75 is a major north–south U.S. Highway that extends in the central United States. The highway's northern terminus is in Noyes, Minnesota, at the Canadian border, where it once continued as Manitoba Highway 75 on the other sid ...

Minnesota State Highway 11 Minnesota State Highway 11 (MN 11) is a highway in northwest and north-central Minnesota, which runs from North Dakota Highway 66 at the North Dakota state line (near Drayton, North Dakota) and continues east to its eastern terminus at the commun ...

* Minnesota State Highway 171 * Minnesota State Highway 175 *

Minnesota State Highway 220 Minnesota State Highway 220 (MN 220) is a regional trunk highway in northwest Minnesota, which runs from its intersection with U.S. Highway 75 in Climax and continues north to its northern terminus at its intersection with MN 11 near Drayton, No ...

Adjacent counties and rural municipalities

* Town of

Emerson, Manitoba Emerson is an unincorporated community recognized as a local urban district in south central Manitoba, Canada, located within the Municipality of Emerson – Franklin. It has a population of 678 as of the 2016 Canada census. Location and transpo ...

(north) * Rural Municipality of Franklin, Manitoba (north) * Rural Municipality of Stuartburn, Manitoba (north) *

Roseau County, Minnesota Roseau County () (pronounced row - so) is a county in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Minnesota, along the Canada–US border. As of the 2020 census, the population was 15,331. Its county seat is Roseau. Roseau County borders the C ...

(east) *

Marshall County, Minnesota Marshall County is a county in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,040. Its county seat is Warren. Marshall County was the location of a claimed UFO incident in 1979, the Val John ...

(south) *

Walsh County, North Dakota Walsh County is a county in the U.S. state of North Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,563. Its county seat is Grafton. History The Dakota Territory legislature created the county on May 2, 1881, with areas partitioned from ...

(southwest) *

Pembina County, North Dakota Pembina County is a county in the U.S. state of North Dakota. At the 2020 census its population was 6,844. The county seat is Cavalier. History For thousands of years, various indigenous peoples inhabited the area along the Pembina and Red ...

(west)

Protected areas

* Beaches State Wildlife Management Area * Lake Bronson Parklands Scientific and Natural Area *

Lakes

* Lake Bronson * Lake Stella * Twin Lakes

Demographics

2000 census

As of the 2000 census, there were 5,285 people, 2,167 households, and 1,447 families in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

was 4.81/sqmi (1.86/km²). There were 2,719 housing units at an average density of 2.47/sqmi (0.96/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 98.09%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, 0.15%

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.26% Native American, 0.25%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 0.38% from

other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

, and 0.87% from two or more races. 1.27% of the population were

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race. 30.1% were of

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

, 25.7%

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

, 13.7%

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

and 6.6%

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

ancestry. Kittson County had the highest percentage of Swedish speakers of any county in the United States. There were 2,167 households, of which 29.2% had children under age 18 living with them, 57.4% were married couples living together, 6.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.2% were non-families. 30.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.3% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.96. The county population contained 25.1% under age 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 23.7% from 25 to 44, 24.20% from 45 to 64, and 21.60% who were 65 or older. The median age was 42. For every 100 females there were 98.4 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 98.6 males. The median income for a household in the county was $32,515, and the median income for a family was $40,072. Males had a median income of $30,240 versus $21,320 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the county was $16,525. About 8.0% of families and 10.2% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 11.3% of those under 18 and 10.4% of those 65 or older.

2020 Census

Communities

Cities

* Donaldson * Hallock (county seat) *

* Humboldt * Karlstad * Kennedy * Lake Bronson (named "Bronson" until 1939) * Lancaster *

Unincorporated communities

Caribou Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

* Northcote * Noyes * Orleans * Robbin

Ghost town

* Pelan

Townships

* Arveson Township * Cannon Township * Caribou Township * Clow Township * Davis Township * Deerwood Township * Granville Township * Hallock Township * Hampden Township * Hazelton Township * Hill Township * Jupiter Township * Norway Township * Pelan Township * Percy Township * Poppleton Township * Richardville Township * St. Joseph Township * St. Vincent Township * Skane Township * South Red River Township * Spring Brook Township * Svea Township * Tegner Township * Teien Township * Thompson Township

Unorganized territories

* East Kittson * McKinley * North Red River

Politics

Kittson County has been a swing county for several decades, tending to vote Democratic. As of 2020, the county has selected the Democratic nominee in 60% of presidential elections since 1980.

References

{{Coord, 48.78, -96.78, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-MN_source:UScensus1990 1878 establishments in Minnesota British-American culture in Minnesota Canadian Gaelic Minnesota counties Populated places established in 1878 Scottish-American culture