Cottonwood County is named for the Cottonwood River which is a translation of “waraju”, the Dakota name for “river”, reflecting the abundance of the trees on its banks.
Surrounding County Courthouses:
N – Redwood County and Brown County
E – Brown County and Watonwan County
S – Jackson County
W – Murray County
Created: May 23, 1857 
County Seat:
Windom 1870 – present
County Courthouse – Windom
Location: 900 3rd Avenue / 10th Street
Built: 1903 – 1904
Style: Classical Renaissance Revival
Architect: O’Meyer and Thori of Saint Paul
Contractor: Jacob B Nelsen of North Mankato
Description: The building faces south and is a two story brick, stone and concrete structure. The building is located on landscaped grounds in the center of Windom. The basement is red colored sandstone and the upper stories are buff colored brick. Identical grand pedimented porticoes on the north and south are supported by two pairs of Corinthian columns with spread eagles in their capitals. The building is crowned with an octagonal drum, which supports a segmented dome two stories above the roof level. A figure of Justice stands on top. Shallow segmented domes painted silver, top the four large corner pavilions. Inside is a two story rotunda with murals. The interior face of the dome is divided into four tympani each bearing individual allegorical subjects; i.e. “government”, “justice”, “freedom of the press”, and “freedom of religion”. The short legs of the octagon bear emblems relating to history, art, government, and science. These are the work of the artist L.A. Thiel. The entire interior decoration was undertaken under the supervision of Odin J. Oyen of LaCrosse, Wisconsin, who personally executed the gold-leaf embellished mural of “Justice” above the bench in the second story County District Court courtroom. This mural is patterned after the painting “Justice” in the Palace of Justice in Paris. The building houses the County District Court of the 7th Judicial District.
See: National Register of Historic Places – Cottonwood County Courthouse
See: The 5th Judicial District includes Blue Earth County, Brown County, Faribault County, Jackson County, Lincoln County, Lyon County, Martin County, Murray County, Nicolett County, Nobles County, Pipestone County, Redwood County, Rock County and Watonwan County.
History: The county was created in 1857 and Windom was selected as the county seat in 1870. The first courthouse was built in 1872 at a cost of $2,916.62. The second and present courthouse was constructed in 1903 to 1904 at a cost of $60,000.
County Courthouse – Windom
County District Court courtroom
Photos taken 2007 and 2017