About Beltrami County
Beltrami County has 16,887 acres of lakes and 459,851 acres of state forest lands. It is comprised of 86 townships and contains portions of two Indian reservations, Red Lake and Leech Lake. A total of 38,121 land parcels are located within the County as of September 2008.
Population and Household Estimates Prepared by MN State Demographics Center
History of Beltrami County Prepared by VisitBemidji.com
The territory of Minnesota was organized by an Act of Congress passed on March 3, 1849. By this organic act the inhabitants of the new territory were accorded the same rights and privileges as had been previously given to the residents of the Territory of Wisconsin. The State Constitution was adopted on October 13, 1857. Minnesota was admitted to the Union as a State on May 11, 1858.
Beltrami County was named after the Italian count Beltrami, an early explorer of the area. In 1887 Beltrami County was part of one of the state’s original nine counties, Becker County. The legislature authorized the creation of Beltrami County in 1893 with 137 townships.
Nineteen townships were given to Roseau County in 1895, reducing Beltrami County to 118 full and 37 fractional townships. On May 17, 1897, Beltrami County was fully organized with Bemidji as the county seat.
In 1902, Clearwater County was created by vote of the residents of Beltrami County. Twenty-eight full and two fractional townships went to the new county.
On January 1, 1923, Lake of the Woods County was created. Beltrami County reached its present size of 1,604,695 acres or 62 full and 17 fractional townships.
Cities in Beltrami County:
| Bemidji | Platted in 1896 |
| Nymore | Platted in 1902 and included in the City of Bemidji in 1923 |
| Blackduck | Platted in 1900 |
| Funkley | Platted in 1903 |
| Kelliher | Platted in 1903 |
| Solway | Platted in 1898 |
| Tenstrike | Platted in 1900 |
| Turtle River | Platted in 1900 |
| Wilton | Platted in 1903 |