Pennington 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 of

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 ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,992. 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 Thief River Falls.

History

The

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

Territory was established by the federal government effective July 3, 1836, and existed until its eastern portion was granted statehood (as

) in 1848. The federal government set up the Minnesota Territory in the remaining territory, effective March 3, 1849. The newly organized territorial legislature created nine counties across the territory in October of that year. One of those original counties, Pembina, had its lower portion partitioned in 1858 by the newly organized Minnesota State legislature to create Polk County. On December 24, 1896, the legislature partitioned the northern portion of Polk to create Red Lake County. Then on November 23, 1910, the northern part of Red Lake was sectioned off to create Pennington County, the penultimate Minnesota county to be created (followed by Lake of the Woods in 1922). The county was named for Edmund Pennington (1848-1926), a longtime Minnesota railroad executive, who was serving as president of the Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Sault Ste. Marie Railway when the county was formed. Thief River Falls, the area's major settlement (platted in 1887), was specified as the county seat.

Geography

The Red Lake River flows westward into the county from Beltrami County through Pennington's central portion. Near Thief River Falls it is joined by the Thief River, flowing southward into the county from Marshall County. The combined flow exits Pennington County toward the south, then swings west- and northwestward as it moves to its confluence with the Red River near

Grand Forks, North Dakota Grand Forks is a city in and the county seat of Grand Forks County, North Dakota, United States. The city's population was 59,166 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in North Dakota, third-most populous ...

. The county terrain consists of low rolling hills, lightly wooded, with all available areas devoted to agriculture.Pennington County MN Google Maps (accessed April 29, 2019)
/ref> The terrain slopes to the west and south, with its highest point near the lower east border, at ASL. The county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.3%) is water. Pennington is one of 17 Minnesota savanna region counties with more savanna soils than either prairie or forest soils.

Major highways

* U.S. Highway 59 * Minnesota State Highway 1 * Minnesota State Highway 32 * Minnesota State Highway 219 * Pennington County State-Aid Highway 3: Major connector between Pennington County and Grand Forks. Connects with Polk County State-Aid Highway 21. * Pennington County State-Aid Highway 17: Connects Thief River Falls to the

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

* Pennington County State-Aid Highway 10: Major route, also known as Pembina Trail * Pennington County State-Aid Highway 16: US 59 Truck Bypass of Thief River Falls, connects US 59 / MN 1 on the west side of town to MN 32 on the south side of town * Pennington County State-Aid Highways 27 & 28: Designated and designed for heavy truck traffic connecting US 2 to Roseau County and Marshall County

Airports

* Thief River Falls Regional Airport

Adjacent counties

* Marshall County - north * Beltrami County - east * Clearwater County - southeast * Red Lake County - south * Polk County - west

Protected areas

* Higinbotham State Wildlife Management Area * Pembina State Wildlife Management 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 13,584 people, 5,525 households, and 3,552 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 6,033 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 97.02%

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 ...

, 0.21%

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 ...

, 0.82% Native American, 0.59% Asian, 0.04%

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 ...

, 0.51% from other races, and 0.81% from two or more races. 1.24% 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. 49.0% were of Norwegian, 15.4% German and 7.2% Swedish ancestry. There were 5,525 households, out of which 30.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.70% were married couples living together, 9.10% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.70% were non-families. 29.50% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.95. The county population contained 24.50% under the age of 18, 10.30% from 18 to 24, 26.50% from 25 to 44, 22.90% from 45 to 64, and 15.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 97.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.60 males. The median income for a household in the county was $34,216, and the median income for a family was $43,936. Males had a median income of $30,771 versus $21,078 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 $17,346. About 7.70% of families and 11.10% 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 10.70% of those under age 18 and 14.80% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

* Goodridge * St. Hilaire * Thief River Falls (county seat)

Unincorporated communities

* Dakota Junction * Erie * Hazel * Highlanding * Kratka * Mavie * River Valley

Townships

* Black River Township * Bray Township * Clover Leaf Township * Deer Park Township * Goodridge Township * Hickory Township * Highlanding Township * Kratka Township * Mayfield Township * Norden Township * North Township * Numedal Township * Polk Centre Township * Reiner Township * River Falls Township * Rocksbury Township * Sanders Township * Silverton Township * Smiley Township * Star Township * Wyandotte Township

Politics

In the first five elections after its founding, Pennington County had mixed results in presidential elections, voting for four different parties at least once in that span. From 1932 to 1996, the county voted Democratic, typically by moderately healthy margins, in every election save for three nationwide Republican landslides,

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

in 1972 and

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

in both 1980 and 1984. Beginning in 2000, Pennington County has favored Republicans in six of the seven elections, with the exception being

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

winning the county in 2008 by a fairly small margin of about 2%.

References

{{authority control Minnesota counties 1910 establishments in Minnesota Populated places established in 1910