Cottonwood County, Minnesota
county in Minnesota, United States
Cottonwood County is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 11,517. Its county seat is Windom.
History
The county was created on May 23, 1857, named for the river in Germantown Township ("cottonwood" is the English meaning of the Dakota Sioux word "Waraju"). Minnesota Governor Horace Austin appointed three county commissioners when the county was established. They met at a home about six miles northwest of Windom on the Des Moines River at Big Bend. During this meeting, they designated the commissioners' districts and changed various county officers. The county organization was completed on July 29, 1870. The first general election was held in the county that November. The first deed of record was filed on January 10, 1870.
The public source identifies “Cottonwood County, Minnesota” as county in Minnesota, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Cottonwood, County and Minnesota.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Cottonwood County, Minnesota”, the useful work is to connect “county in Minnesota, United States” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q110684. VIAF identifies the subject as 151270553. The Library of Congress control number is n80107375. Authority coordinates are 44.010, -95.180. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 1857 and 1870.
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How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Cottonwood County, Minnesota” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.