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Stearns County, Minnesota

Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.

—newspaper titles

—digitized titles

35historic places

—earliest paper

1855formed

158,292pop. 2020

84cemeteries

—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 35 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1968; 1 is also National Historic Landmark. Most listings are in or near St. Cloud, Sauk Centre, St. Joseph.

Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.

Newspapers

Library of Congress

Newspaper directory data for Minnesota is not yet loaded on this site. Browse Stearns titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

28 of 35 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

35 listed properties

Property	City	Type	Listed
Arnold, Francis, House	St. Cloud	Building	1994
Bensen, John N., House	St. Cloud	Building	1982
Bishop's House/Chancery Office	St. Cloud	Building	1982
Borgerding, Christopher, House	Belgrade	Building	1982
Carter Block	St. Cloud	Building	1986
Church of St. Boniface	Melrose	Building	1993
Church of St. Joseph-Catholic	St. Joseph	Building	1982
Church of St. Mary Help of Christians-Catholic	St. Augusta	Building	1982
Church of St. Stephen-Catholic	St. Stephen	Building	1982
Church of the Immaculate Conception-Catholic	Avon	Building	1982
Church of the Sacred Heart (Catholic)	Freeport	Building	1991
Clark and McCormack Quarry and House	Rockville	Site	1982
Clarke, Nehemiah P., House	St. Cloud	Building	1982
Fair Haven Flour Mill	Fairhaven	Building	1978
Fifth Avenue Commercial Buildings	St. Cloud	Building	1982
First National Bank	St. Cloud	Building	1982
First State Bank	St. Joseph	Building	1982
Foley-Brower-Bohmer House	St. Cloud	Building	1978
Gogala, Anton, Farmstead	St. Anthony	Building	1982
Hermanutz, Eugene, House	Cold Spring	Building	1982
Kimball Prairie Village Hall	Kimball	Building	1982
Lewis, Sinclair, Boyhood Home NHL	Sauk Centre	Building	1968
Majerus, Michael, House	St. Cloud	Building	1978
Minnesota Home School for Girls Historic District	Sauk Centre	District	1989
Model School	St. Cloud	Building	1988
Original Main Street Historic District	Sauk Centre	District	1994
Oster, John, House	Cold Spring	Building	1982
Palmer House Hotel	Sauk Centre	Building	1982
Pan Motor Company Office and Sheet Metal Works	St. Cloud	Building	1984
Peters, Ferdinand, House	Cold Spring	Building	1982
St. Benedict's Convent and College Historic District	St. Joseph	District	1989
St. Cloud Commercial Historic District	St. Cloud	District	1998
St. Cloud Veterans Administration Hospital Historic District	St. Cloud	District	2012
St. John's Abbey and University Historic District	Avon	District	1979
Stearns County Courthouse and Jail	St. Cloud	Building	1982

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Stearns was formed in 1855 (1855-02-20) from Cass, Nicollet, Pierce, Sibley.

STEARNS created from CASS, NICOLLET, PIERCE (extinct), and SIBLEY.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Stearns County population from 1860 to 2020 (Census historical series).

1860	1880	1900	1920	1940	1950	1960	1980	2000	2020
4,505	21,956	44,464	55,741	67,200	70,681	80,345	108,161	133,166	158,292

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

84 cemeteries and 0 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 80 of 84 listed

Name	Lat	Lon
Acacia Cemetery	45.42483	-94.06699
Assumption Cemetery	45.33691	-94.54709
Assumption Cemetery	45.5308	-94.16527
Big Grove Church Cemetery	45.54027	-95.05555
Bohemian Cemetery	45.64727	-94.98435
Brockway Cemetery	45.68885	-94.21665
Calvary Cemetery	45.53497	-94.1761
Calvary Cemetery	45.73885	-94.92874
Calvary Cemetery	45.47369	-94.34371
Christian Reform Church Cemetery	45.49574	-95.12199
Concordia Cemetery	45.31848	-94.21412
Crow Lake Cemetery	45.42356	-95.05787
Ebenezer Cemetery	45.62968	-94.55861
Ebenezer Cemetery	45.63358	-94.63473
Ebenezer Church Cemetery	45.34497	-94.63969
Eden Lake Cemetery	45.33266	-94.54691
Fairhaven Cemetery	45.32232	-94.20632
Gethsemane Cemetery	45.41526	-94.2075
Greenwood Cemetery	45.73724	-94.92896
Highland Cemetery	45.7387	-94.48076
Immaculate Conception Cemetery	45.63246	-94.74862
Immaculate Conception Cemetery	45.66219	-94.47306
Immanuel Cemetery	45.59222	-94.62981
Immanuel Lutheran Church Cemetery	45.57249	-94.59999
Kimball Cemetery	45.32018	-94.30578
Lyman Prairie Cemetery	45.66089	-95.10863
Maine Prairie Cemetery	45.38496	-94.26387
Millwood Cemetery	45.67917	-94.74088
Minnesota Home Cemetery	45.75087	-94.92127
Monastic Cemetery	45.56111	-94.3175
North Star Cemetery	45.53921	-94.18053
Oak Hill Cemetery	45.67441	-94.79168
Oak Hill Cemetery	45.6217	-94.21255
Oakland Cemetery	45.72757	-94.92769
Old Eden Lake Cemetery	45.36055	-94.52039
Old Saint Nicholas Cemetery	45.41319	-94.41383
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cemetery	45.74385	-94.36832
Paynesville Cemetery	45.37749	-94.75206
Sacred Heart Cemetery	45.69606	-94.4525
Sacred Heart Cemetery	45.66306	-94.68472
Saint Andrews Cemetery	45.60047	-94.86555
Saint Annes Cemetery	45.3081	-94.31315
Saint Anthony Padua Cemetery	45.61281	-95.05202
Saint Boniface Cemetery	45.46666	-94.43117
Saint Catherine's Cemetery	45.51376	-94.59434
Saint Donatus Cemetery	45.4849	-95.12104
Saint Francis Cemetery	45.76014	-94.58347
Saint Francis De Sales Cemetery	45.45637	-94.98953
Saint Francis Xavier Cemetery	45.62197	-94.21384
Saint Hegwigs Cemetery	45.73091	-94.46007
Saint James Catholic Cemetery	45.48574	-94.39461
Saint Johns Cemetery	45.57635	-94.39583
Saint Johns Cemetery	45.62912	-94.86665
Saint Johns Cemetery	45.70095	-95.07725
Saint Johns Cemetery	45.72076	-94.55909
Saint Joseph Cemetery	45.54385	-94.23027
Saint Joseph Cemetery	45.56167	-94.3175
Saint Louis Catholic Church Cemetery	45.37692	-94.7113
Saint Margaret Cemetery	45.45764	-94.79799
Saint Martin Cemetery	45.50093	-94.66482
Saint Mary Help of Christians Cemetery	45.47907	-94.14909
Saint Marys Cemetery	45.6708	-94.80279
Saint Marys Cemetery	45.73088	-94.48849
Saint Michael Cemetery	45.52444	-94.82555
Saint Nicholas Cemetery	45.38046	-94.43824
Saint Patrick Cemetery	45.66941	-94.81363
Saint Paul's Lutheran Cemetery	45.45615	-94.8495
Saint Pauls Cemetery	45.74112	-94.92869
Saint Rosa of Lima Cemetery	45.73116	-94.7151
Saint Stephani Cemetery	45.70082	-94.27499
Saint Wendel Cemetery	45.66779	-94.36739
Saint Wendelin Cemetery	45.45365	-94.24589
Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery	45.4568	-94.52266
Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery	45.5615	-94.9402
Salem Cemetery	45.44183	-94.71542
Seven Dolors Cemetery	45.62812	-94.56327
Staples Cemetery	45.52691	-94.30111
Stony Cemetery	None	None
Stranger Cemetery	45.55078	-94.27055
Union Cemetery	45.48548	-95.12102

Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.

Historical markers

HMdb link

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Search HMdb for Stearns County, Minnesota

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