Roseau County () is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the northwestern part 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 so ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, along the Canada–U.S. border. As of the 2020 census, the population was 15,331. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

Roseau Roseau (Dominican Creole French, Dominican Creole: ''Wozo'') is the capital and largest city of Dominica, with a population of 14,725 as of 2011. It is a small and compact urban settlement, in the Saint George Parish, Dominica, Saint George Pa ...

. Roseau County borders the Canadian 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 ...

. Part of the Red Lake Indian Reservation is in Roseau County.

History

Roseau County was once the home of many

Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin ( ; Dakota/ Lakota: ) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations people from the Great Plains of North America. The Sioux have two major linguistic divisions: the Dakota and Lakota peoples (translati ...

, and

Mandan The Mandan () are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains who have lived for centuries primarily in what is now North Dakota. They are enrolled in the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. About half of the Mandan still ...

tribes. Archeologists have found artifacts within the county belonging to these tribes that date back 7,200 years. More recent history includes fur trappers and European-based explorers. By 1822, a fur-trading post was established in the area. In 1885, the future Roseau City hosted four settlers; by 1895 there were 600, and the area was incorporated as

. By the mid-1880s the early settlers of eastern Kittson County were feeling the disadvantage of their location, far from the county seat, and petitioned the government for a separate county. On December 31, 1894, Governor

Knute Nelson Knute Nelson (born Knud Evanger; February 2, 1843 – April 28, 1923) was a Norway, Norwegian-born United States, American attorney and politician active in Wisconsin and Minnesota. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, he served in sta ...

proclaimed the eastern portion of Kittson a new county, to be named Roseau. On February 11, 1896, the next governor, David Marston Clough, added part of Beltrami County to Roseau County. Roseau was named the county seat.Historical Overview (accessed April 3, 2019)
/ref>

Geography

Roseau County is in far northern

. Its northern boundary abuts

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. The Roseau River drains the upper part of the county, flowing west into Kittson County on its way to the

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...

. The county terrain consists of low rolling hills, devoted to agriculture, and dotted with lakes and drainages. There is considerable wooded area, especially in the southeast portion.''Roseau County MN'' Google Maps (accessed April 3, 2019)
/ref> The county has an area of , of which is land and (0.4%) is water. Roseau is one of 17

savanna counties with more savanna soils than prairie or forest soils.

Transportation

Airports

* Warroad International Memorial Airport (KRRT) - two miles northwest of Warroad * Piney Pinecreek Border Airport - extends into Canada; serves as a limited

airport of entry In general, a port of entry (POE) is a place where one may lawfully enter a country. It typically has border security staff and facilities to check passports and visas and to inspect luggage to assure that contraband is not imported. Internatio ...

between the two nations. * Roseau Airport - 2 miles east of Roseau

Major highways

* Minnesota State Highway 11 * Minnesota State Highway 32 * Minnesota State Highway 89 * Minnesota State Highway 308 * Minnesota State Highway 310 * Minnesota State Highway 313

Adjacent counties and rural municipalities

Rural Municipality of Stuartburn Stuartburn is a List of rural municipalities in Manitoba, rural municipality (RM) located in the Eastman Region, Manitoba, Eastman Region of Manitoba, Canada. It had a population of 1,629 according to the Canada 2006 Census. The municipality i ...

- northwest *

Rural Municipality of Piney The Rural Municipality of Piney is a rural municipality (RM) in southeastern Manitoba, Canada, along the border with Minnesota in the United States. Geography According to Statistics Canada, the municipality has a land area of 2,433.77 ...

- north * Buffalo Point First Nation,

- northeast * Lake of the Woods County - east * Beltrami County - southeast * Marshall County - south * Kittson County - west

Protected areas

* Beltrami Island State Forest * Hayes Lake State Park *

Lost River State Forest The Lost River State Forest is a state forest located in Roseau County, Minnesota, United States. The forest borders the Canadian province of Manitoba to the north, and parcels belonging to the Red Lake Indian Reservation are within the fores ...

* Luxemburg Peatland Scientific and Natural Area * Roseau River State Wildlife Management Area * Sprague Creek Peatland Scientific and Natural Area * Two Rivers Aspen Park Scientific and Natural Area

Demographics

2020 census

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 16,338 people, 6,190 households, and 4,438 families in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), 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 geog ...

was . There were 7,101 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 95.92%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.13%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1.42% Native American, 1.73% Asian, 0.02%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.08% from other races, and 0.70% from two or more races. 0.43% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. 41.0% were of Norwegian, 18.8% German and 10.7% Swedish ancestry. There were 6,190 households, out of which 38.40% had

children A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

under the age of 18 living with them, 60.00% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 6.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.30% were non-families. 24.60% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.90% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average

household A household consists of one or more persons who live in the same dwelling. It may be of a single family or another type of person group. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many social, microeconomic and government models, and is im ...

size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.11. The county

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

contained 29.80% under the age of 18, 6.80% from 18 to 24, 29.90% from 25 to 44, 20.80% from 45 to 64, and 12.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 105.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 104.00 males. The median income for a household in the county was $39,852, and the

median income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of unde ...

for a family was $46,185.

Male Male (Planet symbols, symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or Egg cell, ovum, in the process of fertilisation. A male organism cannot sexual repro ...

s had a

of $29,747 versus $23,630 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $17,053. About 4.60% of families and 6.60% 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 ...

, including 6.50% of those under age 18 and 12.20% of those age 65 or over.

Government and politics

In presidential elections, Roseau is Minnesota's most reliably Republican-voting county.

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

's and

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

's best performances in Minnesota were in Roseau County. Bush won it twice, with over 65% of the vote. It was also one of the few Minnesota counties that

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

won in 1992 and

Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Party leaders of the United States Senate, Republican Leader of th ...

won in 1996. Roseau County is less reliably Republican in senatorial and gubernatorial elections. The

Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) is a political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota affiliated with the national Democratic Party. The party was formed by a merger between the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Minneso ...

has won two senatorial elections here since 1992. Independents do not perform as well in Roseau County as in the rest of

. In the 1998 gubernatorial election,

Norm Coleman Norman Bertram Coleman Jr. (born August 17, 1949) is an American politician, attorney, and lobbyist. From 2003 to 2009, he served as a United States Senate, United States Senator for Minnesota. From 1994 to 2002, he was mayor of Saint Paul, Mi ...

's best performance in

was in Roseau County, where he won with almost 50% of the vote.

Communities

Cities

Badger Badgers are medium-sized short-legged omnivores in the superfamily Musteloidea. Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by their squat bodies and adaptions for fossorial activity rather than by the ...

* Greenbush * Roosevelt (part) *

(county seat) * Strathcona * Warroad

Unincorporated communities

* Fox * Mandus * Pelan (part) * Pencer * Pinecreek * Ross * Salol * Skime *

Swift Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIF ...

* Wannaska

Ghost towns

* Haug * Winner

Townships

* Barnett Township * Barto Township * Beaver Township * Cedarbend Township * Deer Township * Dewey Township * Dieter Township * Enstrom Township * Falun Township * Golden Valley Township * Grimstad Township * Hereim Township * Huss Township * Jadis Township * Lake Township * Laona Township * Lind Township * Malung Township * Mickinock Township * Moose Township * Moranville Township * Nereson Township * Palmville Township * Pohlitz Township * Polonia Township * Poplar Grove Township * Reine Township * Ross Township * Skagen Township * Soler Township * Spruce Township * Stafford Township * Stokes Township

Unorganized territories

* North Roseau * Northwest Roseau * Southeast Roseau

References

External links

Official Roseau County website
{{Coord, 48.77, -95.80, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-MN_source:UScensus1990 Minnesota counties 1894 establishments in Minnesota Populated places established in 1894