Stevens 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 ...

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 9,671. 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 Morris.

History

The county was created by act of the Minnesota legislature on February 20, 1862. It was not organized at that time, and no county seat was named. The county was named for

Isaac Stevens Isaac Ingalls Stevens (March 25, 1818 – September 1, 1862) was an American military officer and politician who served as governor of the Territory of Washington from 1853 to 1857, and later as its delegate to the United States House of Represe ...

, who had led a railroad survey party across Minnesota in 1853 and was influential in bringing national attention to the Minnesota Territory. The territorial legislature had intended to thus honor Stevens in 1855 when another county was being created, but a clerical error caused that county to be named Stearns. The error was corrected by the 1862 act; by that time Stevens was a brigadier general for the Union Army in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. Stevens was killed later that year. The county government was organized in 1872. Morris, which had been platted in 1869, was named the county seat. The

University of Minnesota Morris The University of Minnesota Morris (UMN–Morris) is a public liberal arts college in Morris, Minnesota, United States. It is part of the University of Minnesota system and was founded in 1960 as a public, co-educational, residential liberal a ...

is in Morris. It was developed in the early 20th century from the Morris Industrial School for Indians, which opened in 1887 and was originally operated by the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute for women in the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. In 2019, the institute had about 6,200 Religious sister, sisters worldwide, organized into a number ...

under contract to the federal government. In 1975, a moderate

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

occurred in the county.

Geography

The Pomme de Terre River flows south through central Stevens County, on its way to discharge into the

Minnesota River The Minnesota River () is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 332 miles (534 km) long, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It drains a watershed of in Minnesota and about in South Dakota and Iowa. It rises in southwestern ...

. The county's terrain consists of rolling hills, with the area mostly devoted to agriculture.''Stevens County MN'' Google Maps (accessed March 15, 2019)
/ref> The terrain generally slopes to the south, although the northeast and southwest portions rise from the central part of the county. The county's highest point is on the eastern portion of the northern border, at ASL. The county has an area of , of which is land and (2.0%) is water.

Major highways

* U.S. Highway 59 *

Minnesota State Highway 9 State Highway 9 or Trunk Highway 9 (MN 9, TH 9) is a state highway in west-central and northwest Minnesota, which runs from its intersection with Minnesota State Highway 23, MN 23 in New London, Minnesota, New London a ...

* Minnesota State Highway 28 * Minnesota State Highway 329

Adjacent counties

Grant County Grant County may refer to: Places ;Australia * County of Grant, Victoria ;United States * Grant County, Arkansas * Grant County, Indiana * Grant County, Kansas *Grant County, Kentucky Grant County is a county located in the northern pa ...

- north * Douglas County - northeast * Pope County - east * Swift County - south * Big Stone County - southwest * Traverse County - northwest

Protected areas

* Alberta Marsh State Wildlife Management Area * Boekholt Grove State Wildlife Management Area * Bruillet State Wildlife Management Area * Cin State Wildlife Management Area * Dablow State Wildlife Management Area * Dolven State Wildlife Management Area * Everglade State Wildlife Management Area * Klason State Wildlife Management Area * Kline State Wildlife Management Area * Mathison State Wildlife Management Area * Muddy Creek State Wildlife Management Area * Reimers State Wildlife Management Area * Robertson State Wildlife Management Area * Selk State Wildlife Management Area * Thedin State Wildlife Management Area * Verlyn Marth Memorial Prairie 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 10,053 people, 3,751 households, and 2,366 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 4,074 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 96.13%

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 ...

, 0.92%

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 ...

, 0.70% Native American, 0.86% 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 ...

, 0.38% from other races, and 1.00% from two or more races. 0.90% 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. 44.8% were of

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 ...

, 20.8% Norwegian and 5.4% Irish ancestry. There were 3,751 households, out of which 28.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.40% 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, 5.10% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.90% were non-families. 29.10% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 2.99. The county population contained 21.60% under the age of 18, 20.80% from 18 to 24, 21.60% from 25 to 44, 19.00% from 45 to 64, and 17.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 93.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.00 males. The median income for a household in the county was $37,267, and the median income for a family was $47,518. Males had a median income of $32,045 versus $21,681 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 $17,569. About 5.70% of families and 13.60% 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 11.30% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

* Chokio * Donnelly * Hancock * Morris (county seat)

Townships

* Baker Township * Darnen Township * Donnelly Township * Eldorado Township * Everglade Township * Framnas Township * Hodges Township * Horton Township * Moore Township * Morris Township * Pepperton Township * Rendsville Township * Scott Township * Stevens Township * Swan Lake Township * Synnes Township

Government and politics

Stevens County has been a swing district for the past several decades. As of 2020 it has selected the Republican candidate in 56% of presidential elections since 1980. In 2016, Stevens County and several other counties in rural Western Minnesota swung sharply to the right. While Minnesota as a whole swung far to the left in 2020, Stevens County swung further right, giving Donald Trump nearly 60% of the vote - the most any party had got since 1952. Trump received nearly 63% of the county's vote in 2024, again the best performance for a Republican presidential candidate since 1952

References

External links

Stevens County government’s website

Stevens County Historical Society & Museum
{{Coord, 45.58, -96.00, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-MN_source:UScensus1990 Minnesota counties 1862 establishments in Minnesota Populated places established in 1862