General Info
Cradled and influenced by three major rivers, the Minnesota and Mississippi to the north and St. Croix to the east, Dakota County spans roughly 600 square miles. Before settlement by Europeans, oak prairie savannahs dominated the landscape and were home to the Dakota tribe of American Indians until 1689. Then, without tribal consent, a fur trader by the name of Nicholas Perrot claimed ownership of the Dakota, Ojibwe and other American Indian land for France. Through the Louisiana Purchase in 1805, the United States appropriated land west of the Mississippi from France. Dakota County was created by the Minnesota Territory legislature in 1849, along with 8 other counties. Dakota County’s initial boundary spanned from Hastings to several hundred miles west to the Missouri River. In 1853 Kaposia was home to the county seat. A year later Mendota, the first European settlement in Minnesota made possible by the founding of Fort Snelling, held the county seat until 1857. It was then relocated to Hastings where it now remains. Today Dakota County is home to approximately 398,552 residents.
