The county was created by the Dakota Territory legislature on February 18, 1881, with territories partitioned from Barnes, Foster, and Traill counties. It was not organized at that time, nor was it attached to another county for administrative or judicial purposes. It was named for Alexander Griggs, a steamboat captain who is credited with founding Grand Forks.[3]
The county organization was effected on June 16, 1882. Its boundary was altered in 1883 when Steele County was partitioned off; it has retained its present boundary since then.[4][5]
The Conrad and Sylvia Fogderud farm in Griggs County is known as "Little Tornado Alley" due to the many tornadoes that have occurred there.[6]
Outline map of Griggs County, North Dakota, 1910
Geography
The Sheyenne River flows southward through the east-central part of Griggs County, discharging into Lake Ashtabula at the county's SE corner. The county terrain consists of low rolling hills, dotted with lakes and ponds across its central part, mostly devoted to agriculture.[7] The terrain slopes to the south and east; its highest point is a hill at its NW corner, at 1,562' (476m) ASL.[8] The county has a total area of 716 square miles (1,850 km2), of which 709 square miles (1,840 km2) is land and 7.6 square miles (20 km2) (1.1%) is water.[9] It is the third-smallest county in North Dakota by land area and fourth-smallest by total area.
U.S. Decennial Census[11] 1790-1960[12] 1900-1990[13] 1990-2000[14] 2010-2020[1]
2020 census
As of the census of 2020, there were 2,306 people.
2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 2,420 people, 1,131 households, and 694 families in the county. The population density was 3.4 inhabitants per square mile (1.3/km2). There were 1,461 housing units at an average density of 2.1 per square mile (0.81/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 98.8% white, 0.3% American Indian, 0.3% black or African American, 0.2% Asian, 0.2% from other races, and 0.2% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 0.4% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 60.8% were Norwegian, 36.7% were German, 5.9% were English, 5.6% were Swedish, and 1.2% were American.
Of the 1,131 households, 20.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.9% were married couples living together, 4.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 38.6% were non-families, and 36.3% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.10 and the average family size was 2.70. The median age was 51.9 years.
The median income for a household in the county was $40,085 and the median income for a family was $51,570. Males had a median income of $33,169 versus $27,038 for females. The per capita income for the county was $24,122. About 9.5% of families and 11.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.4% of those under age 18 and 17.5% of those age 65 or over.
^"County History". North Dakota.gov. The State of North Dakota. Archived from the original on February 2, 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
^Jackson, William (2024). North Dakota Tornadoes Twisters & Cyclones. Dickinson, ND: Valley Star Publications. pp. 100–101. ISBN979-8-89480-378-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
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