Cook County, Minnesota

Cook County is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,600, making it Minnesota's seventh-least populous county. Its county seat is Grand Marais. The Grand Portage Indian Reservation is in the county.

History

Ojibwe people were early inhabitants of this area. The first non-indigenous people to explore the area were French fur traders, a few of whom settled in the area. By the 1830s, the French population was a few dozen. In the 1830s, settlers began arriving from New England and from upstate New York. The completion of the Erie Canal (1825) and the settling of the Black Hawk War (1831) made migration easier.

Most of Cook County's 1830s settlers came from Orange County, Vermont and Down East Maine (modern day Washington County and Hancock County). Most were fishermen and farmers. By 1845 the future Cook County contained 350 people of European descent; by 1874 there were about 2,000. They were primarily members of the Congregational Church, Methodist, and Baptist churches. By 1900 there were about 3,000 people in Cook County.

The first decade of the 20th century saw a large influx of Europeans from Germany, Scandinavia, and Ireland. These waves introduced Lutheranism and Catholicism to Cook County.

The county was created on March 9, 1874. It was named for Territorial and State Senator Michael Cook (1828-1864).

Geography

File:Eagle Mountain, Minnesota.jpg

Eagle Mountain, the highest natural point in Minnesota at Template:Convert, is located in northern Cook County.

Cook County is a rugged, heavily wooded triangle of land on Minnesota's northeastern tip. It abuts Canada's southern border and is largely surrounded by the northern end of the Great Lakes. It is heavily dotted with lakes, ponds and streams. The state's highest point is in the county, at Template:Convert ASL. The county has an area of Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert is land and Template:Convert (57%) is water. It is Minnesota's second-largest county by area. Minnesota's highest natural point, Eagle Mountain at Template:Convert, and the highest lake, Lake Abita at Template:Convert, are in Cook County. Lake Superior is at the county's southern border.

Major highways

• File:MN-61.svg Minnesota State Highway 61
• File:Cook County 12 MN.svg Cook County Road 12 – Gunflint Trail

Adjacent counties

Cook County is in the extreme northeast of the state at the tip of the Arrowhead region; it is adjacent to only one other county by land. Its geographic neighbors are:

• Rainy River District, Ontario Canada - northwest
• Thunder Bay District, Ontario Canada - northeast (EST Border east of the 90th meridian west)
• Lake County - west
• Ashland County, Wisconsin - south
• Keweenaw County, Michigan - east/EST Border
• Ontonagon County, Michigan - southeast/EST Border

Protected areas

• Cascade River State Park
• Grand Portage National Monument
• Judge C. R. Magney State Park
• Kodunce River State Wayside Area
• North Shore State Trail (part)
• Pat Bayle State Forest
• Superior National Forest (part)
  • Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (part)
• Temperance River State Park

Climate

Northern Minnesota offers extreme winter weather. While the averages are low, the extremes provide more details. A third of the year is below freezing (31.9%, 116 days, or 4 months). Of those days, 21 are below zero degrees Fahrenheit (−17.8 °C).

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	June	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Days Below 32 °F/0 °C
20	18	19	13	3.5	0.1	0.1	0.0	0.5	5.8	16	20	116
Days Below 0 °F/-17.8 °C
8.2	6	1.5	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0.5	4.8	21

Demographics

2020 Census

Cook County Racial Composition

Race	Num.	Perc.
White (NH)	4,670	83.4%
Black or African American (NH)	25	0.45%
Native American (NH)	450	8.04%
Asian (NH)	48	0.9%
Pacific Islander (NH)	1	0.02%
Other/Mixed (NH)	283	5.1%
Hispanic or Latino	123	2.2%

2000 census

File:CookCountyMn2022PopPyr.png

2022 US Census population pyramid for Cook County, from ACS 5-year estimates

As of the census of 2000, there were 5,168 people, 2,350 households, and 1,438 families in the county. The population density was Template:Convert. There were 4,708 housing units at an average density of Template:Convert. The racial makeup of the county was 89.45% White, 7.59% Native American, 0.33% Asian, 0.29% Black or African American, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.25% from other races, and 2.05% from two or more races. 0.75% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 21.6% were of German, 17.7% Norwegian, 11.5% Swedish, 7.2% Irish and 5.4% English ancestry.

There were 2,350 households, of which 24.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.0% were married couples living together, 6.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.8% were non-families. 32.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.17 and the average family size was 2.73.

The county population contained 20.4% under the age of 18, 5.4% from 18 to 24, 25.8% from 25 to 44, 31.2% from 45 to 64, and 17.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44. For every 100 females there were 99.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.5 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $36,640, and the median income for a family was $47,132. Males had a median income of $31,211 versus $23,650 for females. The per capita income for the county was $21,775. About 8.1% of families and 10.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.2% of those under age 18 and 6.8% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

City

• Grand Marais (county seat)

Census-designated place

• Lutsen

Unincorporated communities

• Croftville
• Grand Portage
• Hovland
• Maple Hill
• Martin Landing
• Mineral Center
• Pigeon River
• Schroeder
• Taconite Harbor
• Tofte

Townships

• Lutsen Township
• Schroeder Township
• Tofte Township

Unorganized territories

• East Cook
• Grand Portage
• West Cook

Ghost towns

• Chippewa City
• Colvill

Government and politics

Cook County was a Republican-leaning bellwether in all but four elections from 1900 to 2000, with the exceptions being 1912, 1960, 1976 (by only 16 votes), and 1988 (by only 2 votes). The county was one of the rare white-majority rural counties to have its margin increase for Joe Biden in 2020 relative to Barack Obama's 2012 margin, with 66 percent of voters choosing the Democratic nominee. In both 2016 and 2020, it was the largest county by area in the contiguous states where Trump lost every precinct, although several counties in Hawaii and county equivalents in western Alaska and the northern Panhandle beat it in both elections. In 2024, the county shifted even further to the left, with Kamala Harris' vote share of over 66% being the highest ever by a Democratic presidential nominee.

Elections and officeholders

County Board of Commissioners

Position		Name	District
	Commissioner	Debra White	District 1
	Commissioner	Stacey Hawkins	District 2
	Commissioner	David Mills	District 3
	Commissioner	Ann Sullivan	District 4
	Commissioner	Ginny Storlie	District 5

State Legislature (2018-2020)

Position		Name	Affiliation	District
style="background-color:Template:Party color"|	Senate	Grant Hauschild	Democrat	District 3
style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	House of Representatives	Roger Skraba	Republican	District 3A

U.S Congress (2018-2020)

Position		Name	Affiliation	District
style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	House of Representatives	Pete Stauber	Republican	8th
style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Senate	Amy Klobuchar	Democrat	N/A
style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Senate	Tina Smith	Democrat	N/A

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Cook County, Minnesota

External links

• Cook County Government's website
• Mn/DOT – maps of Cook County (Southwest portion, Eastern portion, Northwest portion)