Steele County, North Dakota

Not to be confused with Steele, North Dakota.

Steele County
County
Steele County Courthouse in Finley
Location within the U.S. state of North Dakota
North Dakota's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 47°28′N97°43′W / 47.46°N 97.72°W / 47.46; -97.72
Country	United States
State	North Dakota
Founded	June 2, 1883 (created) July 13, 1883 (organized)
Named for	Edward H. Steele
Seat	Finley
Largest city	Finley
Area
• Total	715 sq mi (1,850 km2)
• Land	712 sq mi (1,840 km2)
• Water	3.2 sq mi (8 km2)  0.5%
Population  (2020)
• Total	1,798
• Estimate  (2022)	1,788
• Density	2.5/sq mi (0.97/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	At-large
Website	www.co.steele.nd.us

Steele County is a county in the U.S. state of North Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,798, ^[1] making it the fifth-least populous county in North Dakota. Its county seat since 1919 is Finley. ^[2]

History

The Dakota Territory legislature created the county on June 2, 1883, with territories partitioned from Griggs and Traill counties. It was not organized at that time, but was attached to Traill for administrative and judicial purposes. It was named for businessman Edward H. Steele, who had pushed for its creation.

On July 13, 1883, the county organization was effected and Steele County was detached from Traill County; Sherbrooke, North Dakota was chosen as the county seat. In 1897 the town of Finley was founded, and by 1919 its growth had eclipsed Sherbrooke to the point that the county seat was transferred to Finley. ^[3] The county's boundaries have been unchanged since its creation.

Outline map of Steele County, North Dakota, 1911

Geography

The Sheyenne River flows south near and into the county's west boundary line. The Goose River flows southeast through the northeastern part of the county. The terrain consists of rolling hills dotted with lakes and ponds. The area is devoted to agriculture. ^[4] The terrain slopes to the south and east; its highest point is near its northwestern corner, at 1,562 ft (476 m) ASL. ^[5] The county has an area of 715 square miles (1,850 km²), of which 712 square miles (1,840 km²) is land and 3.2 square miles (8.3 km²) (0.5%) is water. ^[6]

Major highways

• North Dakota Highway 32
• North Dakota Highway 38
• North Dakota Highway 200

Adjacent counties

• Grand Forks County - north
• Traill County - east
• Cass County - southeast
• Barnes County - southwest
• Griggs County - west
• Nelson County - northwest

Lakes ^[4]

• Golden Lake
• Golden Rush Lake
• Lake Tobiason
• Lone Tree Lake
• North Golden Lake
• Stony Lake
• Willow Lake

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1890	3,777		—
1900	5,888		55.9%
1910	7,616		29.3%
1920	7,401		−2.8%
1930	6,972		−5.8%
1940	6,193		−11.2%
1950	5,145		−16.9%
1960	4,719		−8.3%
1970	3,749		−20.6%
1980	3,106		−17.2%
1990	2,420		−22.1%
2000	2,258		−6.7%
2010	1,975		−12.5%
2020	1,798		−9.0%
2022 (est.)	1,788	[7]	−0.6%
U.S. Decennial Census [8] 1790-1960 [9] 1900-1990 [10] 1990-2000 [11] 2010-2020 [1]

2020 census

As of the census of 2020, there were 1,798 people.

2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 1,975 people, 864 households, and 589 families in the county. The population density was 2.8 inhabitants per square mile (1.1/km²). There were 1,171 housing units at an average density of 1.6 per square mile (0.62/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 97.6% white, 1.2% American Indian, 0.2% black or African American, 0.1% Asian, 0.4% from other races, and 0.6% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.0% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 60.0% were Norwegian, 35.2% were German, 5.4% were Irish, and 1.0% were American.

Of the 864 households, 24.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.4% were married couples living together, 4.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 31.8% were non-families, and 27.8% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.78. The median age was 47.7 years.

The median income for a household in the county was $44,191 and the median income for a family was $54,625. Males had a median income of $36,588 versus $25,648 for females. The per capita income for the county was $27,728. About 4.3% of families and 4.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.1% of those under age 18 and 5.1% of those age 65 or over.

Population by decade

Communities

Cities

• Finley (county seat)
• Hope
• Luverne
• Sharon

Unincorporated communities ^[4]

• Blabon
• Colgate
• Pickert
• Sherbrooke ^[12] (original county seat; now mostly uninhabited)

Townships

• Beaver Creek
• Broadlawn
• Carpenter
• Colgate
• Easton
• Edendale
• Enger
• Finley
• Franklin
• Golden Lake
• Greenview
• Hugo
• Melrose
• Newburgh
• Primrose
• Riverside
• Sharon
• Sherbrooke
• Westfield
• Willow Lake

Township Numbers and Range Numbers ^[13]

	Range 57	Range 56	Range 55	Range 54
Township 148	Sharon	Westfield	Beaver Creek	Newburgh
Township 147	Franklin	Finley	Golden Lake	Enger
Township 146	Greenview	Easton	Sherbrooke	Primrose
Township 145	Riverside	Melrose	Hugo	Edendale
Township 144	Willow Lake	Carpenter	Colgate	Broadlawn

Politics

Steele County was a Democratic-leaning swing county in presidential elections until 2016, when Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump by nearly 20 points, an almost total flip from Barack Obama's 20 point win in 2008. In 2020, Joe Biden fared even worse despite a national increase for the Democratic Party from 2016. He was the first Democrat to win without the county since John F. Kennedy in 1960, and had the lowest proportion of the county's vote of any winning Democrat since Woodrow Wilson in 1912. Since 1964 Steele County has favored the Democratic presidential candidate in 64% of elections.

United States presidential election results for Steele County, North Dakota ^[14]

Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party(ies)
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2024	622	61.28%	367	36.16%	26	2.56%
2020	652	59.93%	392	36.03%	44	4.04%
2016	538	53.85%	361	36.14%	100	10.01%
2012	498	47.79%	518	49.71%	26	2.50%
2008	404	39.15%	614	59.50%	14	1.36%
2004	586	48.31%	616	50.78%	11	0.91%
2000	655	54.13%	475	39.26%	80	6.61%
1996	486	39.67%	620	50.61%	119	9.71%
1992	503	36.72%	598	43.65%	269	19.64%
1988	690	43.26%	895	56.11%	10	0.63%
1984	941	54.08%	781	44.89%	18	1.03%
1980	997	53.32%	617	32.99%	256	13.69%
1976	835	43.35%	1,066	55.35%	25	1.30%
1972	1,063	53.96%	892	45.28%	15	0.76%
1968	952	46.87%	991	48.79%	88	4.33%
1964	796	36.13%	1,404	63.73%	3	0.14%
1960	1,209	50.76%	1,173	49.24%	0	0.00%
1956	1,188	50.83%	1,148	49.12%	1	0.04%
1952	1,513	62.16%	911	37.43%	10	0.41%
1948	1,052	45.00%	1,163	49.74%	123	5.26%
1944	1,042	43.89%	1,320	55.60%	12	0.51%
1940	1,328	47.70%	1,434	51.51%	22	0.79%
1936	724	25.20%	1,444	50.26%	705	24.54%
1932	695	25.88%	1,925	71.69%	65	2.42%
1928	1,574	57.34%	1,152	41.97%	19	0.69%
1924	1,247	52.77%	85	3.60%	1,031	43.63%
1920	2,222	85.17%	337	12.92%	50	1.92%
1916	676	53.31%	515	40.62%	77	6.07%
1912	237	23.58%	253	25.17%	515	51.24%
1908	881	68.72%	366	28.55%	35	2.73%
1904	817	86.82%	69	7.33%	55	5.84%
1900	724	74.41%	214	21.99%	35	3.60%

Education

Steele County has the following school districts: ^[15]

• Dakota Prairie Public School District 1
• Finley-Sharon Public School District 19
• Griggs County Central School District 18
• Hatton Public School District 7
• Hope-Page School District (merger of Hope Public School District 10 and Page Public School District 80)
• May-Port CG Public School District 14
• Northwood Public School District 129

Former districts:

• Hope Public School District 10 ^[15] - Consolidated with Page district in 2020 ^[16]
• Page Public School District 80 ^[15] - Consolidated with Hope district in 2020 ^[16]

In 1964 the county had 992 students in four schools; at the time there were five school districts but Colgate was not operating any schools as its school closed in 1964. ^[17]

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Steele County, North Dakota

References

1. "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
2. "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
3. Individual ND & SC County Chronologies (Long, 2007) The Newberry Library (accessed February 20, 2019)
4. Steele County ND Google Maps (accessed February 20, 2019)
5. ""Find an Altitude/Steele County ND" Google Maps (accessed February 20, 2019)". Archived from the original on May 21, 2019. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
6. "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. Archived from the original on January 29, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
7. "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2022". Census.gov . Retrieved April 6, 2023.
8. "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
9. "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
10. Forstall, Richard L., ed. (April 20, 1995). "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
11. "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. April 2, 2001. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2010. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
12. Ghosts of North Dakota: Sherbrooke
13. "Earth Point".
14. Leip, David. "Atlas of US Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
15. "2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Steele County, ND" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 15, 2021. Retrieved July 24, 2022. - Text list - 2010 map and 2010 list
16. "Enrollment History Public School Districts 2009-2021". North Dakota Department of Public Instruction . Retrieved August 19, 2021. - Check the 2020-2021 spreadsheet, which lists a single "Hope Page" school district, and compare with all previous sheets which show them as two separate school districts.
17. "Per Pupil Costs Are Analyzed For County". Steele County Press . Finley, North Dakota. p. 10. - Clipping from Newspapers.com

External links

• Steele County map, North Dakota DOT

47°28′N97°43′W / 47.46°N 97.72°W / 47.46; -97.72