Dakota County Real Estate Property

Dakota County is located in the southeastern part of the state of Minnesota, and the southeastern portion of the seven county metro area that makes up the whole of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis - St. Paul and surrounding cities. The county seat for Dakota County is the city of Hastings, which actually sits partly in Dakota County and partly in its neighboring Washington County. The very easternmost part of the Dakota County lies on the western border of the Wisconsin county of Pierce.

The county stretches over 593 square miles which was originally vegetated with oak prairie savannas. 2.86% of this land area is actually water, equaling 17 square miles of lakes and rivers. The county was founded on October 27, 1849 and was named after the Dakota Tribe of American Indians to whom the land originally belonged.

In 1689 a French fur trader proclaimed the land his, much to the dismay of the Dakota and Ojibwe (Chippewa) Tribes of the area. He claimed these and other American Indian lands for the nation of France without the consent of the tribes. And later the lands west of the Mississippi were annexed from France with the Louisiana Purchase of 1805.

Dakota County now lies within the convergence of 3 of the 4 major rivers running out of the state southbound: the Minnesota River, Mississippi River and the St. Croix on the east side. Not as large and noteworthy, the Vermillion River also runs from Farmington down to the Hastings area. And, being the "Land of 10,000 Lakes" Dakota contains a fair share of them including: Chub Lake, Crystal Lake, Lake Byllesby, Mud Hen Lakes, Thomas Lake, Thompson Lake, Lake Rebecca, Lake Isabelle, Spring Lake in Hastings, Bullfrog Pond, Pickerel Lake, Fish Lake, Blackhawk Lake, Holland Lake and Jensen Lake.

Dakota County is also currently home to over 392,000 residents and boasts such riches as Lebanon Hills Regional Park, Spring Lake Park Reserve, Thompson County Park, Lake Byllesby Regional Park, Miesville Ravine Park Reserve, Big Rivers Regional Trail, Dakota Woods Dog Park, Mississippi River Regional Trail and North Urban Regional Trail. It also supports 9 libraries, one in each of its most popular cities.

More information is available about Dakota County on their official government website http://www.dakotacounty.us/default.htm.