Martin 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 ...

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 ...

, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 20,025. 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 ...

is Fairmont.

History

The county was created by the Minnesota Territory legislature on May 23, 1857, with Fair Mount (which was also platted in 1857) designated as county seat. The town's name was later shortened to Fairmont. Two explanations have been advanced for the county's name. A delegate to the US Congress from the Wisconsin Territory, Morgan Lewis Martin, introduced the legislative act to organize the Minnesota Territory. But in 1904 the county's oldest residents attested that the name referred to Henry Martin, an early settler from Connecticut who ran several businesses during the pre-territory era.

Geography

Martin County lies on Minnesota's border with

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

. The East Fork of the Des Moines River flows southeastward through the lower western part of the county. The county terrain consists of low rolling hills, dotted with lakes and ponds, completely devoted to agriculture where possible.Martin County MN Google Maps (accessed April 18, 2019)
/ref> The terrain slopes to the east and north, with its highest point near its southwest corner, at ASL. The county has an area of , of which is land and (2.4%) is water.

Major highways

* Interstate 90 * Minnesota State Highway 4 * Minnesota State Highway 15 * Minnesota State Highway 263

Airports

* Fairmont Municipal Airport (FRM)

Adjacent counties

* Watonwan County - north * Blue Earth County - northeast * Faribault County - east *

Kossuth County, Iowa Kossuth County () is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 14,828. The county seat is Algona, Iowa, Algona. History Kossuth County was founded on Januar ...

- southeast * Emmet County, Iowa - southwest * Jackson County - west

Protected areas

Source: * Ceylon State Wildlife Management Area * Fox Lake Refuge * Luedtke State Wildlife Management Area * Perch Creek State Wildlife Management Area * State Wildlife Management Area * Truman Wildlife Area

Lakes

Source: * Amber Lake * Big Twin Lake * Bright Lake * Budd Lake * Buffalo Lake ( Cedar Township) * Buffalo Lake ( Rutland Township) * Canright Lake * Cedar Lake * Clam Lake * Clayton Lake * Clear Lake * Creek Lake * Eagle Lake * East Chain Lake * Fish Lake (Cedar Township) * Fish Lake ( Lake Belt Township) * Fox Lake * Hall Lake * High Lake * Iowa Lake (part) * Kiester Lake * Lake Charlotte * Lake George * Lake Imogene * Lake Seymour * Little Hat Lake * Little Twin Lake * Martin Lake * Mud Lake * Murphy Lake * North Lake * North Silver Lake * Okamanpeedan Lake (part) * Perch Lake * Pierce Lake * Rose Lake * Round Lake ( Fox Lake Township) * Round Lake ( Waverly Township) * Sager Lakes * Sisseton Lake * South Silver Lake * Susan Lake * Temperance Lake * Tuttle Lake * Watkins Lake * Wilmert Lake

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 21,802 people, 9,067 households, and 6,047 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 9,800 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 97.22%

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 ...

, 0.25%

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 ...

, 0.10% Native American, 0.42% 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 ...

, 1.26% from other races, and 0.73% from two or more races. 1.93% 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. 51.6% were of German, 11.9% Norwegian, 5.9% Swedish and 5.0% English ancestry. There were 9,067 households, out of which 29.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.60% 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, 7.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.30% were non-families. 30.00% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.92. The county population contained 24.80% under the age of 18, 6.40% from 18 to 24, 24.90% from 25 to 44, 24.00% from 45 to 64, and 19.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 95.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.50 males. The median income for a household in the county was $34,810, and the median income for a family was $44,541. Males had a median income of $30,467 versus $21,780 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 $18,529. About 7.10% of families and 10.50% 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 15.10% of those under age 18 and 9.00% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

* Dunnell * Fairmont (county seat) *

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

* Northrop * Ormsby (part) * Sherburn * Trimont * Truman * Welcome

Unincorporated communities

* East Chain * Fox Lake * Imogene * Nashville Center * Wilbert

Townships

* Cedar Township * Center Creek Township * East Chain Township * Elm Creek Township * Fairmont Township * Fox Lake Township * Fraser Township * Galena Township * Jay Township * Lake Belt Township * Lake Fremont Township * Manyaska Township * Nashville Township * Pleasant Prairie Township * Rolling Green Township * Rutland Township * Silver Lake Township * Tenhassen Township * Waverly Township * Westford Township

Government and politics

Martin County has been reliably Republican for almost its entire existence. It has voted Republican in 36 of the 42 elections since the formation of the county and has only voted Democratic once since 1948.

References

External links

Martin County government’s website
{{authority control Minnesota counties 1857 establishments in Minnesota Territory Populated places established in 1857