Rolette 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

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 ...

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,187, and was estimated to be 11,692 in 2024. 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 Rolla. The County has been known to have approximately several lakes in the County, they're mostly north-west of the county and some are in the north, also North of Dunseith, and north-west of Rolla. Some of the international peace garden is located along the north-west of the county, and about 14 miles (22 km) North of the city of Dunseith among the highway US-281 and ND-3.

History

The

Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of ...

legislature created the county on January 4, 1873, with territory partitioned from Buffalo County. It was not organized at that date, and was not attached to another county for judicial or administrative purposes. It was named for Joseph Rolette Jr., a fur trader and political figure from Pembina. The county government was effected on October 14, 1884, with Dunseith as the county seat. In 1885 the county seat was assigned to Saint John, and in 1889 it was assigned to Rolla. The county boundaries were adjusted in 1883 and in 1887. It has retained its present boundary configuration since 1887. The International Peace Garden is located in the northwest corner of the county along the

Canada–United States border The international border between Canada and the United States is the longest in the world by total length. The boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: Canada' ...

with

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 ...

Geography

Rolette County lies on the northern border of North Dakota with

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 ...

. Gimby Creek and Wakopa Creek flow into the county from Canada. The terrain consists of dry rolling hills in the south, and more verdant low hills in the north and northwest, dotted with lakes and ponds. Part of the Turtle Mountain plateau lies in the northwestern part of the county. The terrain slopes to the south and east; its highest point is its northwest corner, at ASL. The Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation is in the northeast section of Rolette County. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (3.88%) is water. It is the 44th largest county in North Dakota by total area.

Major highways

* U.S. Highway 281 * North Dakota Highway 3 * North Dakota Highway 5 * North Dakota Highway 30 * North Dakota Highway 43 * North Dakota Highway 66

Adjacent counties and rural municipalities

* Municipality of Boissevain-Morton,

- northwest * Municipality of Killarney-Turtle Mountain,

- northeast * Towner County - east * Pierce County - south * Bottineau County - west

Protected areas

* Lords Lake National Wildlife Refuge (part) * Rabb Lake National Wildlife Refuge * School Section Lake National Wildlife Refuge * Willow Lake National Wildlife Refuge

Lakes

* Belcourt Lake * Bigham Lake * Bymes Lake * Carpenters Lake * Coon Lake * Gatten Lake * Girl Lake * Gordon Lake * Hartley Lake (part) * Horseshoe Lake * Island Lake * Lagerquist Lake * Lake Upsilon * Little Gurr Lake * Long Lake * Lords Lake (part) * Mill Lake * Mill Lake * Rabb Lake * School Section Lake * Schutte Lake * South Messier Lake (part) * Ducker Lake * Twin Lake * Twin Lakes (part) * Willow Lake

Demographics

As of the third quarter of 2024, the median home value in Rolette County was $98,610. As of the 2023

American Community Survey The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the United States census, decennial census ...

, there are 3,686 estimated households in Rolette County with an average of 3.23 persons per household. The county has a median household income of $57,355. Approximately 23.5% of the county's population lives at or 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 ...

. Rolette County has an estimated 53.1% employment rate, with 16.6% of the population holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 83.9% holding a high school diploma. The top five reported ancestries (people were allowed to report up to two ancestries, thus the figures will generally add to more than 100%) were English (93.0%), Spanish (0.9%), Indo-European (0.9%), Asian and Pacific Islander (0.6%), and Other (4.5%). The median age in the county was 32.1 years. Rolette County, North Dakota – racial and ethnic composition

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 12,187 people, 4,114 households, and 2,857 families residing 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 4,581 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 19.03%

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 ...

, 0.14%

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 ...

, , 0.21% Asian, 0.07%

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 ...

, 0.14% from some other races and 4.29% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 1.12% of the population.

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 13,937 people, 4,783 households, and 3,413 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 5,372 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 20.27%

, 0.15%

, , 0.11% Asian, 0.01%

, 0.11% from some other races and 2.12% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 0.95% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 48.5% were

French Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French people, French colonists first arriving in Canada (New France), France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of ...

, 7.0% were

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, 6.8% were Norwegian, and 0.3% were American. Of the 4,783 households, 44.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.1% were married couples living together, 23.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 28.6% were non-families, and 25.0% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.89 and the average family size was 3.39. The median age was 30.5 years. The median income for a household in the county was $28,265 and the median income for a family was $35,523. Males had a median income of $35,595 versus $27,459 for females. The per capita income for the county was $13,632. About 25.9% of families and 31.8% of the population were below the

, including 41.5% of those under age 18 and 24.8% of those age 65 or over.

Population by decade

Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) id:barra value:rgb(0.55,0.0,0.0) ImageSize = width:700 height:350 PlotArea = left:50 bottom:50 top:30 right:30 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:13944 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = late ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:6972 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:1743 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo BarData= bar:1890 text:1890 bar:1900 text:1900 bar:1910 text:1910 bar:1920 text:1920 bar:1930 text:1930 bar:1940 text:1940 bar:1950 text:1950 bar:1960 text:1960 bar:1970 text:1970 bar:1980 text:1980 bar:1990 text:1990 bar:2000 text:2000 bar:2010 text:2010 bar:2020 text:2020 bar:2024 text:present PlotData= color:barra width:25 align:left bar:1890 from: 0 till:2427 bar:1900 from: 0 till:7995 bar:1910 from: 0 till:9558 bar:1920 from: 0 till:10061 bar:1930 from: 0 till:10760 bar:1940 from: 0 till:12583 bar:1950 from: 0 till:11102 bar:1960 from: 0 till:10641 bar:1970 from: 0 till:11549 bar:1980 from: 0 till:12177 bar:1990 from: 0 till:12772 bar:2000 from: 0 till:13674 bar:2010 from: 0 till:13937 bar:2020 from: 0 till:12187 bar:2024 from: 0 till:11692 color:darkblue PlotData= bar:1890 at:2427 fontsize:M text:2,427 shift:(-16,5) bar:1900 at:7995 fontsize:M text:7,995 shift:(-16,5) bar:1910 at:9558 fontsize:M text:9,558 shift:(-16,5) bar:1920 at:10061 fontsize:M text:10,061 shift:(-16,5) bar:1930 at:10760 fontsize:M text:10,760 shift:(-16,5) bar:1940 at:12583 fontsize:M text:12,583 shift:(-16,5) bar:1950 at:11102 fontsize:M text:11,102 shift:(-16,5) bar:1960 at:10641 fontsize:M text:10,641 shift:(-16,5) bar:1970 at:11549 fontsize:M text:11,549 shift:(-16,5) bar:1980 at:12177 fontsize:M text:12,177 shift:(-16,5) bar:1990 at:12772 fontsize:M text:12,772 shift:(-16,5) bar:2000 at:13674 fontsize:M text:13,674 shift:(-16,5) bar:2010 at:13937 fontsize:M text:13,937 shift:(-16,5) bar:2020 at:12187 fontsize:M text:12,187 shift:(-16,5) bar:2024 at:11692 fontsize:M text:11,692 shift:(-16,5) TextData= fontsize:S pos:(20,20) text:Data from U.S. Census Bureau

Communities

Cities

* Dunseith *

Mylo Myles MacInnes (born 10 May 1978), better known by his stage name Mylo, is a Scottish electronic musician and record producer. His 2004 album '' Destroy Rock & Roll'' peaked at number 26 on the UK Albums Chart. He is best known for his 2005 si ...

* Rolla (county seat) * Rolette * St. John

Census-designated places

* Belcourt * East Dunseith *

Green Acres ''Green Acres'' is an American television absurdist sitcom starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm. Produced by Filmways as a sister show to ''Petticoat Junction'', the series was first br ...

* Shell Valley

Unincorporated communities

* Ackworth *

Agate Agate ( ) is a banded variety of chalcedony. Agate stones are characterized by alternating bands of different colored chalcedony and sometimes include macroscopic quartz. They are common in nature and can be found globally in a large number of d ...

* Alcide * Boydton *

Carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenter ...

* Fonda * Gronna *

Kelvin The kelvin (symbol: K) is the base unit for temperature in the International System of Units (SI). The Kelvin scale is an absolute temperature scale that starts at the lowest possible temperature (absolute zero), taken to be 0 K. By de ...

* McCumber * Nanson * San Haven * Thorne

Townships

* Kohlmeier * Maryville * Shell Valley * South Valley * Holmes

Politics

Due to its Native American majority population, Rolette County voters are historically Democratic, and it is one of the most consistently Democratic counties in North Dakota. Since 1928 the only Republican to carry the county was

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

in 1952. It was the only county in the state to support

George McGovern George Stanley McGovern (July 19, 1922 – October 21, 2012) was an American politician, diplomat, and historian who was a U.S. representative and three-term U.S. senator from South Dakota, and the Democratic Party (United States), Democ ...

in 1972 and is additionally the only North Dakota county to have supported

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

in 1980. In each of the five presidential elections from 1996 to 2012, the Democratic candidate received over 60% of the vote, with

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 75.1% in 2008 and 74.0% in 2012. In 2016, Democratic candidate

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

received 55.9% of the county's votes, one of the two North Dakota counties that she carried.

Education

School districts include:
Text list
- The map shows Wolford district's boundaries even though it was disestablished in 2019
2010 map2010 text list
/ref> * Belcourt Public School District 7 (as the Turtle Mountain Community School, in cooperation with the

Bureau of Indian Education The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) is a division of the U.S. Department of the Interior under the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs that directs and manages education functions. Formerly known as the Office of Indian Education Programs ...

(BIE)) * Bottineau Public School District 1 * Dunseith Public School District 1 * Mount Pleasant Public School District 4 * North Star School District * Rolette Public School District 29 * Rugby Public School District 5 * St. John Public School District 3 Former districts: * Wolford Public School District 1 - Closed in 2019 - Check the 2019-2020 spreadsheet, which does not list Wolford, while previous years do.

References

External links

Rolette County map
''North Dakota DOT''
Official website
{{Authority control 1884 establishments in Dakota Territory Populated places established in 1884