Kandiyohi County
Originally, what is now Kandiyohi County was two separate counties -
Kandiyohi and Monongalia. Both were established in 1858 and both
functioned independently until the two counties merged twelve years
later in an economical move. The people of the two counties realized
that both counties were too small to function efficiently and
economically as separate governmental units, so they formed one county
government in a very lop-sided referendum. The log cabin home of Mark Piper, Register of Deeds of original Kandiyohi County, served, more or less, as the original courthouse. Most of the County records were kept there and the commissioners used it as a meeting place. Piper took the County records with him when he left the area during the Sioux Uprising of 1862, and the records he saved now comprise the sole record of original Kandiyohi County's first four years of existence.
At times the county used the J. C. Bright cabin for a headquarters, for which they paid Mr. Bright the sum of $10.00. Piper was paid $50.00 for the same purpose, but for a period of two years. Several other homes were used as the Courthouse for short periods of time until 1870 when the County offices were officially established in rented quarters in Kandiyohi Station.
Original Monongalia County was formally organized two months before Minnesota became a State, although local government did not have a very high priority so far as the early settlers were concerned. Officers were elected but did not qualify, so it fell to the governor to appoint the County's first sheriff. His home became Monongalia County's first jail, since he took in the prisoners almost as members of the family.
During this period the County's Commissioners seemed to have met in a convenient home or store at highly irregular intervals.
When Monongalia County was re-established in 1861, Columbia was chosen as the County seat with the Commissioners holding two meetings at Arnold's store in that settlement.
Following the Sioux Uprising, the legislature approved the most of Monongalia's County seat from Columbia to New London. This became the first official, settled government in the County. Officers used their homes as offices and the Commissioners met in a rented room above Pinney's store (rent $70.00 per annum). Economy was a watchword. A sewing thimble served as the County's seal and a wood crate served as the safe.
When Kandiyohi and Monongalia counties merged into what is now Kandiyohi County in 1870, the question of a seat for the new government stirred up a real hornet's nest. The Monongalia County people were in favor of moving the County seat to Willmar, while the people of Southern Kandiyohi County wanted it to remain in Kandiyohi Station (what is now City of Kandiyohi). The northern group sent Andrew Railson to the House of Representatives, who pledged to move the County seat, while the southern group supported Senator W. T. Bonniwell of Hutchinson, who pledged to keep the seat in Kandiyohi Station.
Railson introduced several bills in the House to move the County seat. Bonniwell blocked the passage of these bills in the Senate. One day, when Bonniwell was not in the Senate due to illness, Railson, with the aid of Lt. Gov. A. E. Rice and some friends in the Senate, got his bill through that August body by a vote of 16 to 1 in late February 1871. On November 21 Governor Austin proclaimed that the act for removing the County seat to Willmar had become law. When word of his proclamation reached Willmar two days later, the citizenry decided that they would take possession of the County records and let any legal contests come later. Accordingly, they made up a special train and a delegation, led by W. A. Calhoun, took the train to Kandiyohi Station, seized all the County records, except those of the judge of probate, and brought them to Willmar. Willmar remains the County seat to this day.
Kandiyohi Station and its supporters protested the removal of the records, giving weight to their arguments by the fact that Willmar had not provided a "County Building" as had been promised. The Commissioners had, however, rented quarters for a courthouse in a downtown Willmar commercial building for $10.00 a month. To offset the Kandiyohi Station arguments about the lack of a county building, the commissioners issued $2,000.00 in bonds for the construction of a courthouse. They also appropriated $500.00 for a jail.
The courthouse served the county for twenty years, but more room was needed. A new courthouse was built and equipped at a total cost of $30,000.00, and the new building "when contrasted with the old tumble-down den which so long had served as a courthouse, could not fail to awaken admiration". The red brick structure, which looked like a courthouse, served the County for seventy years, until the growth of population, County services and the ravages of time made another building a necessity.
Construction began in 1964 for a new courthouse and the building was occupied eighteen months later. During the intervening sixteen years, expansion space has been occupied, several remodels have been done making the building more efficient, and some offices have been moved to other locations.
No matter how many buildings within the confines of present-day Kandiyohi County have been used as government centers, no matter how violent the arguments have been in the past, this is Kandiyohi County's Courthouse.
More Information can also be found at www.rootsweb.com/~mnkandiy/
