General Info
Dodge County is around 24 miles long and 18 miles wide, located in the Southeastern part of Minnesota. It is home to around 20,000 residents and its county seat is Mantorville. The Northern part of the state is rolling hills with loose soil, making it a good area for growing grain. The Southern part of the county is flat with wet lands making it good for raising cattle. Dodge county is one of the seven counties in southern Minnesota with no forest ecosystems. It has the oldest working court house in Minnesota, built out of locally quarried limestone in 1865. Originally the area was inhabited by American Indians and was a common area for hunting and battles between the Sioux, Sauk and Fox Indians. The first non-native settler to the area is unknown. The original founders were mainly settlers from New England in the early 1800’s. By 1857 the population was around 4000 people. Dodge County was named after Henry Dodge, the twice governor of Wisconsin.
