Pope County, Minnesota Genealogical Records Information

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Pope County History and Information

Pope County Facts

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Pope County was created on February 20, 1862 (Organized in 1866) from Cass and Pierce Counties. The County Seat is Glenwood. The County was named for General John Pope, who explored sections of the Red, Crow Wing and Mississippi Rivers in 1849; based in St. Paul as commander of the Department of the Northwest during the Dakota War, 1863-64.

Counties adjacent to Pope County are Douglas County (north), Stearns County (east), Kandiyohi County (southeast), Swift County (south), Stevens County (west), Grant County (northwest). Cities and Towns Include Brooten, Cyrus, Farwell, Glenwood, Long Beach, Lowry, Sedan, Starbuck, Villard, Westport. Townships Include Bangor, Barsness, Ben Wade, Blue Mounds, Chippewa Falls, Gilchrist, Glenwood, Grove Lake, Hoff, Lake Johanna, Langhei, Leven, Minnewaska, New Prairie, Nora, Reno, Rolling Forks, Walden, Westport, White Bear Lake Townships. See also County History and County Courthouse for more details.

The Pope County Official Government Website
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Pope County, Minnesota History Books at Amazon.com
Family History Library - The largest collection of free family history, family tree and genealogy records in the world.

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Records at the Pope County Courthouse

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PLEASE READ FIRST!! Please call the clerk's department to confirm hours, mailing address, fees and other specifics before visiting or requesting information because of sometimes changing contact information.

All Departments below can be contacted by clicking the link, by contacting the Phone number below for each department or contacting the County Courthouse at 130 E. Minnesota Ave, Glenwood, MN 56334-9253; Phone: (320) 634-5727. NOTE: The record dates below are from the earliest date to present time.

Pope County Recorder's Office has Birth Records from 1868, Marriage Records from 1869, Death Records from 1870 and Land Records from 1866.
The Recorders Office is responsible for all the real estate records for properties located in the County. Permanent records of deeds, mortgages and other various real estate records are recorded/filed in this office. As Local Registrar, the office protects and issues certified copies of Birth and Death records, Marriage Certificates & Military Discharge Records.

Pope County Court Administrator's Office has Probate Records from 1867 and has Court Records from 1868.
The Court Administrator's Office maintains court files for Civil, Criminal, Traffic, Probate, Conciliation, Juvenile, Tax and Family Court matters.

Click Here to Search Minnesota Court, Land, Wills & Financial Records! - Researchers often overlook the importance of court records, probate records, and land records as a source of family history information.

Below is a list of online resources for Pope County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Pope County Court Records by clicking the link below:

Minnesota Naturalization Records Index, 1854-1957: An index to the microfilmed Minnesota Naturalization Records
Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
Minnesota Land Records: This database contains information on Minnesota (U.S.A.) land records. The database comes from the Bureau of Land Management's Minnesota Pre-1908 Homestaed and Cash Entry Patent and Cadastral Survey Plat Index. Information recorded in the collection includes patentee name, land office, legal description, etc.
Pope County, Minnesota Court Books at Amazon.com

Pope County Tax Records

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The uses and value of military records in genealogical research for ancestors who were veterans are obvious, but military records can also be important to re-searchers whose direct ancestors were not soldiers in any war. The fathers, grandfathers, brothers, and other close relatives of an ancestor may have served in a war, and their service or pension records could contain information that will assist in further identifying the family of primary interest. Due to the amount of genealogical information contained in some military pension files, they should never be overlooked during the research process. Those records not containing specific genealogical information are of historic value and should be included in any overall research design.

Below is a list of online resources for Pope County Military Records. Email us with websites containing Pope County Military Records by clicking the link below:

Minnesota Civil War Soldiers: List of over 26,000 soldiers mustered from Minnesota during the American Civil War
Minnesota Volunteers in the Spanish American War and the Philippine Insurrection: This database indexes names of persons from Minnesota who enlisted in the Spanish American War.
Minnesota Society of Daughters of the American Revolution
National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution, 1776 D Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20006; Phone: (202) 628-1776
Minnesota Society of Sons of the American Revolution
National Society of Sons of the American Revolution, 1000 South Fourth Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40203; (502) 589-1776
Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900 from the State of Minnesota (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Pension applications for service in the U.S. Army between 1861 and 1917, grouped according to the units in which the veterans served.
Southern Claims Commission from the State of Minnesota (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents In the 1870s, southerners claimed compensation from the U.S. government for items used by the Union Army, ranging from corn and horses, to trees and church buildings.
Pope County, Minnesota Military Books at Amazon.com

Pope County Genealogical Addresses

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The Repositories in this section are Archives, Libraries, Museums, Genealogical and Historical Societies. Many County Historical and Genealogical Societies publish magazines and/or news letters on a monthly, quarterly, bi-annual or annual basis. Contacting the local societies should not be over looked. State Archives and Societies are usually much larger and better organized with much larger archived materials than their smaller county cousins but they can be generalized and over look the smaller details that local societies tend to have. Libraries can also be a good place to look for local information. Some libraries have a genealogy section and may have some resources that are not located at archives or societies. Also, take a special look at any museums in the area. They sometimes have photos and items from years gone by as well as information of a genealogical interest. All these places are vitally important to the family genealogist and must not be passed over.

Below is a list of online resources for Pope County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Pope County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:

Pope County Historical Society, 809 S Lake Shore Dr, Glenwood MN 56334-9406, Phone: 320 634-3293
Local Minnesota Researchers, Find a local researcher or become a local researcher.
West Central Minnesota Historical Center, University of Minnesota–Morris, Morris, MN 56267
Serves Big Stone, Chippewa, Douglas, Grant, Pope, Stevens, Swift, and Traverse counties.
Minnesota State Archives, 345 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55102-1906 • 651-259-3260
Minnesota Historical Society, 345 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55102-1906 • 651-259-3000
Minnesota Genealogical Society, 1185 Concord St. N. Suite 218, South St. Paul, MN 55075-1187; (651) 455-9057
National Archives - Great Lakes Region (Chicago), 7358 South Pulaski Road, Chicago, Illinois 60629-5898; 773-948-9001; E-mail: chicago.archives@nara.gov (Maintains retired records from Federal agencies and courts in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Minnesota.)
Minnesota Newspapers & Periodicals Records - Newspapers and periodicals are the diaries of local communities. They are excellent sources of family history details - often recorded nowhere else. Look for obituaries, marriages, legal notices, and more found in our Historical Newspaper Archives.
Minnesota Genealogical Society Books at Amazon.com

Pope County Church & Cemeteries

Click Here to Search Minnesota Obituary Records! - This database is a compilation of obituaries published in U.S. newspapers, collected from various online sources. Obituaries can vary in the amount of information they contain, but many of them are genealogical goldmines, including information such as names, dates, places of birth and death, marriage information, and family relationships.

There are many churches and cemeteries in Pope County. Some transcriptions are online. A great site is the Pope County Tombstone Transcription Project.

The Minnesota Historical Records Survey Project of Madison published the Directory of Churches and Religious Organizations in Minnesota in 1941 and Guide to Church Vital Statistics Records in Minnesota in 1942. There are also numerous publications by the project for specific denominations. Extensive microfilm collections of church records in Minnesota are available through the FHL. The State Historical Society of Minnesota and Area Research Centers have a variety of church records including microfilm and original records.

Numerous cemeteries have been read and transcribed by local genealogical societies in Minnesota. The transcriptions are frequently deposited with an Area Research Center, a local library, or the State Historical Society of Minnesota. A considerable number have been printed in the Minnesota State Genealogical Society Newsletter. Some have been privately published.

The Minnesota State Old Cemetery Society, 6100 West Mequon Road, Mequon, WI 53092, publishes a newsletter and maintains an archive of tombstone inscriptions from around the state. Contact the society for membership information

Below is a list of online resources for Pope County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Pope County Cemetery & Church Records by clicking the link below:

Minnesota Cemetery Inscription Index, Select Counties: This database is an index to cemetery inscriptions of cemeteries in several Minnesota (U.S.A.) counties and cities. It contains the names of nearly 600,000 persons. Researchers will find birth date, death date, name of cemetery and, in some cases, the closest living relative.
Pope County, Minnesota Cemetery Books at Amazon.com
Pope County, Minnesota Church Books at Amazon.com

Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

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When view family trees online or not, be sure to only take the info at face value and always follow up with your own sources or verify the ones they provide. Below is a list of online resources for Pope County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Pope County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:

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Sites on USGenweb: [ Pope County ] [ Minnesota ] [ Main Page ]
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Pope County, Minnesota Family Books at Amazon.com

County History

Minnesota County History Name Index: This database is a name index of eleven county histories and plat books for the area immediately south of the city of St. Paul in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Researchers will find the name of the county resident, the book in which the person's name appears, and the page number. Where information is available, town of residence is also given.
Minnesota Crew Lists, 1929-1952: For several decades in the early half of the twentieth century, Two Harbors, Minnesota was one of the busiest iron ore loading ports in the world. This database is an index to the crew lists (NOT passenger lists) of vessels that arrived at Two Harbors,

THE EARLY YEARS

In late June of 1851 Governor Alexander Ramsey and General Henry Sibley traveled to a trading post three miles down river from St. Peter. There they called a conference and summoned the Sisseton & Wahpeton bands of the Dakota tribes by courier to assemble. It took 18 days for all to arrive. There were the many chiefs and braves dressed in full attire of colored beaded shirts, blankets, and feathered head gear, also squaws with papooses and French and Scotch traders and missionaries.

Some 7500 Sioux were present. By July 23, 1851 negotiations were completed and the Traverse des Sioux treaty was signed. Thus millions of acres were transferred to the whites, except 10 miles either side of the Minnesota River and then to the headwaters of the Big Stone.

Pope County laid within these boundaries. The lakes, the streams, the rolling hills and valleys, all relinquished reluctantly by the natives. They had given up most of their fishing, hunting and trapping grounds. The many trees and fields were now the property of the State.

In 1849 Captain John Pope led an exploration group to the Red River by way of a trail that passed through Pope County. Called the Plains Trail, it came from St. Cloud, passed near present day Paynesville, skirted the north shore of Lake Minnewaska, crossed through Douglas County, then branched at Elbow Lake, one fork heading to the Red River at Breckenridge and then following the river to Pembina. The other, the Woods Trail, went north up the Crow Wing and east of Ottertail Lake, on to Detroit Lakes, and on to Pembina.

Later, in 1853, a number of explorers used the Plains Trail to survey a route for the Pacific Railroad.

Pope was a graduate of West Point, born in 1822 and died in 1892. He was a lieutenant in the Mexican War. During the summer of 1849 he was a member of an exploration expedition that left Fort Snelling, heading up the Mississippi River to St. Cloud then along the Plains trail passing by what was then called White Bear lake, Minnewaska, and up the ‘Red’ and on to Pembina. The overall journey to Pembina and back was some 1000 miles. A captain at the time of this expedition, he was later, 1853-59, a commander of several survey expeditions for the Pacific Railroad. In the Civil War he was commissioned a major general and in Sept. of 1862, shortly after the Sioux uprising in Minnesota he was appointed commander of the Northwest and headquartered in St. Paul.

Olaus Olson Grove a trapper and hunter, living just outside the county, near the present site of Brooten, used the Territory of Pope County as his game grounds as early as 1859. In 1861 he squatted on Lot 1, section 2 of what is now the present township of Barsness. [Builders of Pope County-1930 by Daisy Ellen Hughes]

Later in the spring of 1862 Grove was instrumental in bringing four of his friends with their families to Lake Johanna Township. They were Ole Kittleson Ovretvedt, Salve Oleson Gakkestad, Gregar Halvorson Stordahl and John Johnson Sandvig. [For more information read – ‘The Cradle of Pope County’ – Historical Sketches by Hannah Tvedt Sanders]

John C. Hutchins settled in Leven Township on July 3, 1862, with his family.

Thomas Van Eaton and Dean Stabler, with their families settled at Grove Lake also in 1862.

A Mr. Garrison, wife and young son, had a cabin on the shore of lake Minnewaska. He was a trapper and never homesteaded and left during the Sioux uprising in 1862 and never returned.

These are presumably the only white settlers in the county in 1862. [Builders of Pope County]

The Lake Johanna families went to the stockade at Paynesville during the uprising. The settlers were told of the approaching danger by a group of men that were coming from Paynesville to bury 17 settlers that had been killed by the Indians near Norway Lake.

George Stabler, of St. Cloud, had heard of the killing and headed to Grove Lake on Sunday afternoon to warn his brother, Dean and family. The neighboring Van Eaton family was there as well and they all left for the safety of Sauk Centre. On Monday Thomas Van Eaton returned to fetch some family belongs and was overtaken and killed some 6-8 miles from Sauk Centre by the Indians. His body was found the next spring.

The Garrisons had been warned by a friendly ‘half-breed’ and left immediately for ‘Sauk’. They stopped at the Stabler cabin early Monday morning on the way, only to find it pillaged and no sign of life. Thinking that all had been killed, they hid in the neighboring woods. There they climbed the trees and spent the night. The next day they left for Sauk Centre, seeing several Indians across the prairie, but fortunately none came their way.

Stabler a lieutenant in the Maine Militia, helped build a more fortified stockade and it was used until Governor Ramsey sent more troops and a more durable fort was built. He and his family never returned to the county following the outbreak.

Hutchins and his family were told only a few hours before the arrival of the natives. They escaped and later returned to Grove Lake. Descendants still lived in the area in the 1930’s.

Like Olaus Grove, all of the Lake Johanna settlers returned by 1864, when the government had deemed it safe for them and their families to resettle. Many descendants of these families still to this day [2005] live in the area. Because by this time Fort Lake Johanna had been built, and along with several other small military posts that were established throughout the frontier, the authorities were now allowing the settlers to return to their homesteads.

At this time, 1864-65 the county slowly began to grow. Other families were moving in and the areas around Gilchrist, Chippewa Falls, Barsness and Lake Minnewaska saw increasing settlement and activity.

Now, the potential and beauty of the area was known to many. In June of 1864 a detachment of Untied States troops were enroute to the west. In the June 18, 1904 – Special edition of the Glenwood Gopher, G. W. Thacker wrote. “I visited the site on which the village of Glenwood now stands. I can never forget the impressions that came to my mind as we approached the brow of the hill and beheld for the first time the magnificent grandeur of the scenery below us!”

“It was a perfect June day. The air was laden with the perfume of spring and the poetry of nature was written on every tree and flower and shrub. I withdrew from the noisy clamor of my companions to the shade of a spreading oak, that I might gaze and ponder and dream.”

“Here indeed, was a land fresh from the hand of the Creator. No white man’s bark had ever floated upon the bosom of the lake, no woodsman’s axe had woke its echoes in these forests and groves, no plow had traced furrows through these plains, no flocks and herds had ever cropped the herbage that grew in wild profusion around us. Could it be the will of providence that this beautiful land, with its amazing fertility should longer remain the home of wild animals and savage men?”

“I tried to picture the scenes familiar to us today- of populous communities, of happy homes, of cities and villages made prosperous by a friendly rivalry in commercial pursuits – but my revere was broken by a bugle call, and with the mechanical promptness of a soldier I mounted my horse and joined the cavalcade already wending its way to the westward.”

Some years later Thacker returned. “The vision of that June day” beckoned him to do so. After being discharged he collected a team of oxen, an axe, some camping utensils, a plow and struck out for the land of promise. Like so many others this land of ‘plenty’, their homesteads would become “heirlooms” for generations yet to come. [Builders of Pope County by Daisy Ellen Hughes, 1930]

CITIES

CYRUS is the railway village of New Prairie township, platted in the spring of 1882.
FARWELL, a railway village in the northwest corner of Ben Wade township, platted in April, 1887, has a name that is borne also by villages in Michigan and Nebraska.
GLENWOOD township, on the southeast side of Lake Minnewaska, was named for the great glen or valley occupied by this lake and for the woods around its shores, contrasted with the prairies that form the far greater part of this county. The city of Glenwood, the county seat at the northeast end of the lake, in Glenwood and Minnewaska townships, first platted in part on September 26, 1866, was incorporated as a village February 23, 1881, and as a city in 1912. This name is borne also by cities in Wisconsin and Iowa, and by villages and townships in twenty other states.
GROVE LAKE township has Grove lake and McCloud lake near its south side, which are more fully noticed in the later part of this chapter.
LOWRY, a Soo railway village in the east edge of Ben Wade township, platted in March, 1887, was named in honor of Thomas Lowry, who was born in Logan county, Illinois, February 27, 1843, and died in Minneapolis, February 4, 1909. He was admitted to the bar in 1867, and in the same year came to Minnesota, settling in Minneapolis, where he practiced law and dealt in real estate; was president and principal stockowner of the company operating the street railways of Minneapolis and St. Paul, called the Twin City Rapid Transit Company.
SEDAN, a Soo railway village in the northwest corner of Bangor township, is named for a city of France, famous for the battle fought on September 1, 1870, between the Germans and the French, which resulted in the surrender of the French army, leading directly to the establishment of France as a republic.
STARBUCK, platted in the spring of 1882, is a village of the Northern Pacific railway, adjoining the western end of Lake Minnewaska.
TERRACE Is a village formerly called Chippewa Falls, in the township of that name, platted in June, 1871. The village is built on a terrace plain of the valley drift bordering both sides of the Chippewa river.
VILLARD, a village of the Northern Pacific railway in the east edge of Leven, platted in August, 1882, was named in honor of Henry Villard, who was born in Bavaria, April 11, 1835, and died at Dobbs Ferry, N. Y., November 12, 1900. He came to the United States in 1853; engaged in journalism, and in the management of railroads; and was president of the Northern Pacific railroad company in 1881-83, when the construction of its transcontinental line was completed. E. V. Smalley, in his History of this railroad, devoted two chapters (pages 245 276) to the very remarkable career of Villard, up to the time of its publication in 1883.
WESTPORT township and its railway village, which was platted in October, 1882, have a name that is borne by townships and villages in Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Wisconsin, and ten other states.

TOWNSHIPS

BANGOR township bears the name of a city in Maine, and of villages and townships in New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and several other states.
BARSNESS township was named in honor of three brothers, Nels N., Erik N., and Ole N. Barsness, born in Norway respectively in 1835, 1842, and 1844, who settled in this township in 1865-66.
BEN WADE township was named in honor of Benjamin Franklin Wade, who was born near Springfield, Mass., October 27, 1800, and died in Jefferson, Ohio, March 2, 1878. He removed to Ohio, with his parents, about 1820; began law practice in 1827; was a district judge, 1847 51; and was a United States senator, 1851-69. He was an anti-slavery leader, and favored the Homestead bill.
BLUE MOUNDS township is crossed by a belt of low morainic drift hills, to which this name was given by settlers from Blue Mounds village in Dane county, Wisconsin. The hills thus named in each of these states appear bluish when seen from a distance.
CHIPPEWA FALLS township was named for its falls in Terrace village, descending 16 feet, on the East branch of the Chippewa river, supplying water power for a flour mill. This village and its post office at first were called Chippewa Falls, but were renamed by request of the settlers to prevent their mail from going to the City of Chippewa Falls in Wisconsin.
GILCHRIST township was probably named in honor of a pioneer settler beside its Lake Gilchrist, which lies mainly in section 7.
GROVE LAKE township has Grove lake and McCloud lake near its south side, which are more fully noticed in the later part of this chapter.
HOFF township was named for the village of Hof in Norway, about 50 miles north of Christiania.
LAKE JOHANNA township bears the name given to its large lake on the map of Minnesota in 1860, probably in honor of the wife or daughter of an early settler, but her surname remains to be learned.
LANGHEI township has a Norwegian name, meaning "a long highland.,, Its northeastern part gradually rises to an elevation about 300 feet above Lake Minnewaska, being the highest land in the south half of the county, with a very extensive prospect on all sides.
LEVEN township was named for a loch or lake in eastern Scotland, the Leven river outflowing from it, and the seaport at its mouth, on the north side of the Firth of Forth.
MINNEWASKA township, adjoining the northern shore of the largest lake in this county, bears the name given to the lake by the white settlers made from two Dakota or Sioux words, mini or minne, water, and washta or waska, good. Prof. N. H. Winchell wrote of the lake and its successive names, as follows: "This lake, according to statements of citizens of Glenwood, was originally designated by an Indian name, meaning Dish lake, because of its being in a low basin. After that, when the chief, White Bear, was buried in a high hill on the north shore, it was called White Bear lake. After a time it was changed to Lake Whipple, from Bishop Whipple, of Faribault, and by act of the state legislature in 1883 it was again changed to Minnewaska, or Good-water. It is said to be 85 feet deep in its deepest part and averages about 40 feet, and there is no known evidence of its having ever stood at a higher level." (Geological Survey of Minnesota, Thirteenth Annual Report, for 1884, p. 14.)
Nicollet's map, published in 1843, has no delineation nor name for this lake, which, with its grandly picturesque basin and inclosing bluffs, is the most noteworthy topographic feature of the county. Major Woods and Captain Pope, in their exploration in 1849, first mapped it as White Bear lake. The name Lake Whipple, in honor of Henry Benjamin Whipple (b. 1822, d. 1901), the revered and beloved Episcopal bishop of Minnesota, was applied to it during several years, when it was confidently expected that an Episcopal school would be founded at Glenwood.
NEW PRAIRIE township was named by its settlers, as their new home in the great prairie area of western Minnesota.
NORA township is reputed to have been named for Norway, the native country of many of its people.
RENO township received the name of its large lake, commemorating Jesse Lee Reno, major general of United States volunteers, who was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, June 20, 1823, and was killed in the battle of South Mountain, Md., September 14, 1862. He was graduated at West Point in 1846; served in both the Mexican and civil wars; and made a survey in 1853 for a military road from Mendota, Minn., to the mouth of the Big Sioux river.
ROLLING FORKS township was named for its contour as an undulating and rolling prairie, crossed by the East branch or fork of the Chippewa river, which here receives a considerable tributary from the north.
WALDEN township has the name of a township and village in Vermont, and of villages in New York, Georgia, and Colorado. Henry D. Thoreau lived alone in 1845-47 beside Walden pond, near Concord, Mass., as narrated in his book, "Walden, or Life in the Woods," published in 1854.
WESTPORT township and its railway village, which was platted in October, 1882, have a name that is borne by townships and villages in Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Wisconsin, and ten other states.
WHITE BEAR LAKE township includes the western end of this lake, which has been known by several names, before mentioned for Minnewaska township. The grave of the Ojibway chief, White Bear, is an elongated mound on a knoll in the south edge of section 3, Minnewaska, about 90 feet above the lake, as described by Prof. N. H. Winchell (Aborigines of Minnesota, 1911, p. 298).
"Waube-Mokwa (the White Bear), who was a chief among the Ojibways and dwelt by these waters" is represented to have lived here more than two centuries ago by "The Tribe of Pezhekee, a Legend of Minnesota" (1901, 232 pages), written by Alice Otillia Thorson, of Glenwood. It is known in history, however, that the warfare of the Ojibways against the Dakotas, acquiring the region of northern Minnesota by conquest, took place much later.

County Courthouse

When Pope County was organized in 1866, a log cabin built in the then-county seat, Stockholm, was used as a courthouse. The cabin is currently on display as part of a historic museum in Glenwood. In 1867, the county seat was moved to Glenwood where a small, two-story wooden building on Green Street served as the courthouse until 1879.

In that year, an $8,000, two-story brick building was built in a cruciform configuration with two shallow-pitched gables intersecting where a very small lantern or cupola stood. A round window punctuated each of the four pediments and a chimney rose at each peak. A darker string course emphasized the tops of the narrow individual hooded windows. By 1928, the county board considered the building inadequate and "very unsightly inside, looking more like an abandoned structure than a public building." The building was razed and the present courthouse built on the site.

A four-day event dedicated the Pope County Courthouse in June 1930. It began with a Glenwood band concert in the city park. The festivities concluded after three full days of speeches and music, Sunday morning services at the Lutheran church, and an afternoon historical pageant at the fair grounds.

The building is a Classic Revival style with a central pavilion that boasts engaged piers, decorated panels, and a heavy entablature upon the central frieze of which are carved the words, "Built to Perpetuate Civic Order and Justice." The 62 by 146 foot building cost $153,000 to build. An additional $20,500 was spent on furnishing and fixtures. Nairne Fisher of St. Cloud designed it and Mads Madsen was the general contractor.

The light sand-colored brick came from Ohio and the limestone trim is from Bedford, IN. Two carloads of marble were shipped from Vermont to make the hallway wainscoting. Metal grillwork in the stairway and the protective ornament on the front doors were custom-designed for Pope County. Walnut with black ebony inlay was used for courtroom furniture. The commissioners' boardroom and various lobby benches were furnished and decorated with quarter-sawed oak, enhanced with ebony.

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