Otter Tail County, Minnesota

Otter Tail County is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 60,081, and it was estimated at 61,041 in 2025.

Otter Tail County comprises the Fergus Falls micropolitan statistical area. With 1,048, Otter Tail County has more lakes than any other county in the United States.

History

Native Americans used the area for hunting and fishing and had permanent dwelling sites. Two Native American tribes were in constant conflict. The Dakota (Sioux) were being pushed from their home area by the Ojibwe (Chippewa) during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Burial mounds and artifacts can still be found. Some of the oldest Native American remains were found near Pelican Rapids, Minnesota. The remains, nicknamed Minnesota Girl, were dated at about 11,000 BC.

thumb|left|250px|Historic marker for Tordenskjold, which was made the county seat in 1870 by the Minnesota legislature, a decision rescinded the following year.

The first Europeans to enter the county were French and British fur traders. Efforts were made to set up trading posts on the Leaf Lakes and Otter Tail Lake. In the late 19th century, most of the towns were built along the railroad lines. Lumber and agriculture were the major industries in the county at that time. The pine and hardwood forests, transportation system, and markets were instrumental in the development of Fergus Falls into a lumber center. The Wisconsin Territory was established by the federal government effective July 3, 1836, and existed until its eastern portion was granted statehood (as Wisconsin) in 1848. The federal government set up the Minnesota Territory effective March 3, 1849. The newly organized territorial legislature created nine counties across the territory in October 1849. One of those counties, Dakota, had a section partitioned off in 1851 to create Cass County. On March 18, 1858, the outgoing territorial legislature created Otter Tail County from areas partitioned from Cass and Pembina, another of the original counties created in 1849. The county was named for Otter Tail Lake and the Otter Tail River. The county was not organized in 1858, nor was a county seat specified. On September 12, 1868, the legislature completed the county organization, and specified Otter Tail City as county seat.

Otter Tail City began as a waystation on a fur-trade route between Saint Paul and the Red River valley. The settlement was of sufficient size that when the Minnesota Territory established a US land office for this part of the territory, the office was sited at Otter Tail City. Thus the city was named as the seat when the county was organized, but people had begun settling the future Fergus Falls area in 1857, and it grew sufficiently that in fall 1872, the vote was taken to move the county seat there. The Northern Pacific Railroad had initially planned to run a line through Otter Tail City, but complications caused the line to be placed in Fergus Falls, which precipitated the county seat move. The Soo Line later made plans to run a line through Otter Tail City, but when townspeople could not agree on the routing, another route east of the city was constructed. Thus, a new city plat was generated, with the settlement name changing to Ottertail.

In 1870, the population of the county was about 2,000. At that time, the principal languages spoken in the county were Norwegian, Swedish, German, and English.

The people of Fergus Falls organized a new county named Holcomb. In 1872, a legislative act abolished Holcomb County, added additional townships to the west, and established Fergus Falls as Otter Tail County's seat.

Early telephone

The Fergus Falls Telephone Exchange Company organized on March 20, 1882, and was in a room at the First National Bank at the corner of Cascade and Lincoln. The system install was very crude. Efforts were made to have telephones installed in the courthouse but commissioners deemed it unnecessary. Eventually a telephone was installed in the auditor's office through a combination of private and public funds. A clerk in the office was tasked with tracking down the officer who was called. The business was sold to the Northwestern Telephone Exchange Company in 1883.

Geography

The Otter Tail River flows south and west through the central and western parts of the county on its way to form the Red River in Wilkin County. It is joined by the south-flowing Pelican River west of Fergus Falls. The Leaf River rises in the county and flows east to its confluence with the Crow Wing River in neighboring Wadena County. The Redeye River flows southeast through the county's northeast section toward its confluence with the Leaf in Wadena. The county terrain consists of rolling hills, heavily wooded through its center section, dotted with lakes and ponds, and carved with drainages and gullies. The available area is devoted to agriculture. The county terrain slopes to the west and south. The highest points on the county terrain are at two different locations: Inspiration Peak, at , and Pekan Peak (unofficial name) a summit northeast of the village of Urbank in Folden Township, Section 32, at above sea level.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has an area of , of which is land and (11.36%) is water. It is Minnesota's 7th-largest county by area.

Otter Tail is one of 17 Minnesota savanna region counties with more savanna soils than either forest or prairie soils. According to its website, the county contains over 1,000 lakes.

thumb|right|Soils of Otter Tail County thumb|right| Soils of Bluff Creek WMA area

Transportation

Major highways

Airports

Aerovilla Airport - NNE of Battle Lake
Fergus Falls Municipal Airport (FFM) - W of Fergus Falls
Henning Municipal Airport (05Y) - S of Henning
Pelican Rapids Municipal Airport (47Y) - NNW of Pelican Rapids
Perham Municipal Airport (16D) - NW of Perham
Wadena Municipal Airport (ADC) - W of Wadena

Adjacent counties

Becker County - north
Wadena County - northeast
Todd County - southeast
Douglas County - south
Grant County - southwest
Wilkin County - west
Clay County - northwest

Protected areas

Source:

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|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census:

As of the 2023 American Community Survey, there are 25,181 estimated households in Otter Tail County with an average of 2.34 persons per household. The county has a median household income of $70,912. Approximately 10.6% of the county's population lives at or below the poverty line. Otter Tail County has an estimated 61.2% employment rate, with 27.4% of the population holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 94.0% 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 (95.7%), Spanish (2.5%), Indo-European (1.1%), Asian and Pacific Islander (0.1%), and Other (0.6%).

Otter Tail County, Minnesota – racial and ethnic composition

{| class="wikitable sortable collapsible" style="font-size: 95%;"

! Race / ethnicity (NH = non-Hispanic)

! Pop. 1980 !! Pop. 1990 !! Pop. 2000 !! Pop. 2010 !!

| White alone (NH)

| 51,468 (99.10%) || 50,052 (98.69%) || 55,137 (96.46%) || 54,244 (94.66%) || style='background: #ffffe6; |54,362 (90.48%)

| Black or African American alone (NH)

| 24 (0.05%) || 27 (0.05%) || 160 (0.28%) || 422 (0.74%) || style='background: #ffffe6; |843 (1.40%)

| Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)

| 121 (0.23%) || 226 (0.45%) || 269 (0.47%) || 261 (0.46%) || style='background: #ffffe6; |284 (0.47%)

| Asian alone (NH)

| 134 (0.26%) || 182 (0.36%) || 250 (0.44%) || 264 (0.46%) || style='background: #ffffe6; |334 (0.56%)

| Pacific Islander alone (NH)

| — || — || 13 (0.02%) || 29 (0.05%) || style='background: #ffffe6; |17 (0.03%)

| Other race alone (NH)

| 48 (0.09%) || 3 (0.01%) || 5 (0.01%) || 13 (0.02%) || style='background: #ffffe6; |149 (0.25%)

| Mixed race or multiracial (NH)

| — || — || 368 (0.64%) || 580 (1.01%) || style='background: #ffffe6; |1,876 (3.12%)

| Hispanic or Latino (any race)

| 142 (0.27%) || 224 (0.44%) || 957 (1.67%) || 1,490 (2.60%) || style='background: #ffffe6; |2,216 (3.69%)

| Total

| 51,937 (100.00%) || 50,714 (100.00%) || 57,159 (100.00%) || 57,303 (100.00%) || style='background: #ffffe6; |60,081 (100.00%)

2024 estimate

thumb|right|2022 US Census [[population pyramid for Otter Tail County, from ACS 5-year estimates]]

As of the 2024 estimate, there were 60,884 people and 25,181 households residing in the county. There were 36,922 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 95.3% White (92.0% NH White), 1.6% African American, 0.8% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, _% from some other races and 1.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 3.9% of the population.

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 60,081. The median age was 46.2 years. 21.7% of residents were under the age of 18 and 24.9% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 101.6 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 100.7 males age 18 and over.

The racial makeup of the county was 91.4% White, 1.4% Black or African American, 0.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% Asian, <0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 1.8% from some other race, and 4.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 3.7% of the population.

There were 25,123 households in the county, of which 24.7% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 54.3% were married-couple households, 18.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 20.8% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 29.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

Otter Tail is a Republican stronghold in U.S. presidential elections, having voted for the party's nominees in every election since 1936. The only Democrats to win the county since Minnesota became a state in 1858 were Franklin D. Roosevelt in his first election victory and William Jennings Bryan in 1896.

During the Great Depression, there was a communist faction within the county. The areas where the movement was centered are quite desolate today, but in mid-1932 over 900 people were involved in one of the state's communist organizations at what was a historic low point for farmers. Party members were very active in the New York Mills area of Newton, Leaf Lake, Blowers, Deer Creek and Paddock Townships. They held meetings, recruited members, placed candidates on local and state tickets, and distributed propaganda. They held dances in Heinola, Menahga, and Sebeka where the Soviet hammer and sickle were proudly displayed and ran a summer camp on East Leaf Lake.

By the time Roosevelt implemented his New Deal programs in the county, the communist movement began to lose steam. Moreover, the Winter War between Finland and the U.S.S.R. soured many Finnish immigrants on communism (Finns had been a large proportion of the local communists). Carl Peltoniemi, a former local communist, said, "The communist movement within the Finnish community basically ended at the start of the Winter War in 1939–1940."

Communities

thumb|200px|right|The Otter Tail River at Phelps Mill. June 2004

thumb|200px|right|Fergus Falls City Hall in Fergus Falls

thumb|200px|right|A picnic/beach area in [[Glendalough State Park. July 2010]]

Cities

Battle Lake
Bluffton
Clitherall
Dalton
Deer Creek
Dent
Elizabeth
Erhard
Fergus Falls (county seat)
Henning
New York Mills
Ottertail
Parkers Prairie
Pelican Rapids
Perham
Richville
Rothsay (part)
Underwood
Urbank
Vergas
Vining
Wadena (part)

Unincorporated communities

Butler

Ashby Public School District
Barnesville Public School District
Battle Lake Public School District
Bertha-Hewitt Public School District
Brandon-Evansville Public Schools
Breckenridge Public School District
Campbell-Tintah Public School District
Detroit Lakes Public School District
Fergus Falls Public School District
Frazee-Vergas Public School District
Henning Public School District
Lake Park Audubon School District
Menahga Public School District
New York Mills Public School District
Parkers Prairie Public School District
Pelican Rapids Public School District
Perham-Dent Public School District
Rothsay Public School District
Sebeka Public School District
Underwood Public School District
Wadena-Deer Creek School District
West Central Area School District

References

External links

Visit Otter Tail County
Otter Tail County – official website
Otter Tail County Historical Society