The county was formed on May 23, 1857, by act of theterritorial legislature, but was not organized at that time. The area was first designatedRock County while the namePipestone County was attached to neighboringRock County. An act of theMinnesota state legislature on February 20, 1862, swapped the designations, attaching the present names to the present counties, due to the pipestone quarry in this county.
Pipestone County organization was effected by a state act on January 27, 1879, with Pipestone City (which had been platted in 1876) as the county seat (the name of the county seat was later shortened to Pipestone).[4] The pipestones are from deposits of redpipestone Native Americans used to make pipes.[5]
Pipestone County lies on Minnesota's border withSouth Dakota. TheRock River rises in the county and flows southward intoRock County, being augmented by the East Branch of the Rock River near the southern border. The terrain consists of low rolling hills, carved by drainages. The area is devoted to agriculture.[6] The terrain slopes to the west and south, with its highest point on the upper part of its eastern border, at 1,883 ft (574 m) ASL.[7] The county has an area of 466 square miles (1,210 km2), of which 465 square miles (1,200 km2) is land and 0.9 square miles (2.3 km2) (0.2%) is water.[8]
Pipestone County is one of only four Minnesota counties without a natural lake, the other three being Mower, Olmsted and Rock. It does contain manmadereservoirs:
As of thecensus of 2000, there were 9,895 people, 4,069 households, and 2,726 families in the county. Thepopulation density was 21.3 per square mile (8.2/km2). There were 4,434 housing units at an average density of 9.54 per square mile (3.68/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 96.68%White, 0.17%Black orAfrican American, 1.48%Native American, 0.46%Asian, 0.02%Pacific Islander, 0.26% fromother races, and 0.93% from two or more races. 0.70% of the population wereHispanic orLatino of any race. 35.7% were ofGerman, 24.8%Dutch and 14.3%Norwegian ancestry.
There were 4,069 households, of which 31.0% had children under age 18 living with them, 57.6% weremarried couples living together, 6.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.0% were non-families. 30.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.2% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.96.
The county population contained 25.8% under age 18, 6.8% from 18 to 24, 24.6% from 25 to 44, 21.4% from 45 to 64, and 21.3% who were 65 or older. The median age was 40. For every 100 females there were 92.8 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 89.4 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $31,909, and the median income for a family was $40,133. Males had a median income of $27,642 versus $20,759 for females. Theper capita income for the county was $16,450. About 7.8% of families and 9.5% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 11.2% of those under 18 and 11.1% of those 65 or older.
In recent decades Pipestone County has trended Republican. In no presidential election since 1976 has the county selected the Democratic nominee (as of 2024). In 2012, it was one of only two counties not to vote for Democratic U.S. Senate candidateAmy Klobuchar, along with its southern neighborRock County.[16]
United States presidential election results for Pipestone County, Minnesota[17]