Were you looking to invest in some excellent farm ground up north where you can count on rain and a rich soil? Here it is! All 160 acres of it. On this land you can grow corn, wheat, beans, alfalfa and any other crop you might like. The soil is sandy loam, which holds the moisture, but drains enough to keep the roots of any crop in top shape. Harvests have brought in as much as 65 bushels of wheat and 5 tons of alfalfa in 3 cuttings per acre. The Old Mill State Park is just a quarter mile from here, so the wildlife is abundant.

Marshall County, covering an area of 1,675 square miles, is situated in the northwestern part of Minnesota bordering on the Red River of the North. The county was named in honor of William Rainey Marshall, one of Minnesota's amazing early governors.

The county is bounded on the north by Kittson and Roseau counties, on the east by Beltrami County, on the south by Polk and Pennington counties, and on the west by the Red River which separates it from North Dakota.

Marshall County lies in the Red River Valley, the great wheat raising section of the country. It is a part of the old bed of glacial Lake Agassiz, and the glacial drift left a thick coating of rich soil extending over several miles of nearly level prairie land. Herds of buffalo roamed over these prairies, and Indians hunted them for food and clothing. Elk, deer, and prairie chickens were plentiful and occasionally, a bear.

Marshall County was in a direct line from the Selkirk Red River Settlement to the Mississippi River and one of the early trails passed through the county. Over the trail, furs were carried beginning in the early 1800's. In 1823, Major Stephen H. Long led an expedition to explore the region of the Red River Valley. The expedition went down the east side of the Red River to Pembina, thus passing through area that became Marshall County. With Major Long on this expedition was Giacomo Constantino Beltrami. The Red River became a highway of travel in the late 1850's when steamboats began running down the river to Fort Garry, Canada. The first steamboat was assembled in 1858 at a little town site called La Fayette, opposite the mouth of the Sheyenne River.

There were very few white settlements in this area before the railroads were built in 1872 and 1873. The railroads brought a wave of immigration, and in about 10 years, nearly all the land was taken by homestead and preemption claims.

In the forties and fifties a missionary, Rev. Sela G. Wright, was stationed on a mission farm on Red Lake. He wrote as early as 1848 of a farm that could produce 3,000 bushels of corn and 2,000 bushels of potatoes besides other vegetables, when all the rest of the northern and western Minnesota was a wilderness. Wright told of a trip to the Red River Settlement in December 1843 to purchase oxen and cows.

The government had encouraged settlement by granting land as subsidies to railroad companies on condition that they extend their lines, and by selling land to actual settlers, who, under certain circumstances, could obtain as much as 480 acres. Long processions of emigrant regions, called "prairie schooners," passed along the trails to settle in the Red River Valley. Many settlers came from the south and the east, and others came directly from Europe, especially from Norway and Sweden; others were Germans, Britons, Scots, and Irish.

Early in 1879, Nels Malm, while on a business trip from Willmar to Crookston, met Peter Jarvis, a settler from Argyle, (then Lousia) who told hire that the "cream of the valley was around Lousia" and persuaded him to make a trip up there to look over the land with a prospect of settling. The railroad had just completed its road to St. Vincent in 1878 but there was no scheduled train service. Mr. Malm says he passed only two buildings between Crookston and Argyle and one of these was at Warren in Marshall County. It was March and there was very little snow on the prairie. Much impressed by the prospects of the land, he returned to Willmar relating his experience to others. That fall he, with several families, left Willmar in eight covered wagons traveling over land to Argyle. Mr. Malm and one of the men walked, driving a herd of 62 cows. It took them 24 days and they arrived in Argyle on election day, November 4, 1879. On December 15, 1879, Charles A. Bergland, an agent for the Cunard Steamship Line, coming directly from Gothenburg, Sweden, in the interest of the Swedish Emigrant Association, made a call at Warren. He was so well pleased with the country and its prospects that he expected to send 100 families to settle near Warren. With the coming of these settlers, the need of a trading point was necessary, and a post office was established, named, "Farley," and A. T. Minor appointed postmaster. Later the name was changed to Warren in honor of the general superintendent of the railroad. In 1878, the railroad was extended to St. Vincent, and a station was built on the site of Warren through the efforts of Mr. McIntyre. This brought many more settlers in 1879 and 1880.

It was not long before capitalists saw the profitable prospects of these grain fields, and they bought land from the railroads and the settlers, and established what were called "bonanza farms," some of which contained as many as 40,000 acres. Before 1870, the farmers of the Red River Valley found that this region was more adapted to the raising of spring wheat than to winter wheat. However, the methods then generally in use in the milling of the spring wheat produced a dark flour which did not sell as readily as white. This difficulty was overcome by the introduction of the middlings purifier and steel mill rollers at Minneapolis beginning in 1870. The subsequent tremendous demand for Minnesota flour made from spring wheat by the perfected process placed a premium on that grain, and created a heavy demand for it. The result was that immigration into the valley increased rapidly.

Marshall County was created from Kittson County by an act of the legislature in 1879. The boundaries were again defined by acts of the legislatures of 1883 and 1885. On March 5, 6, 1935, the following resolution was adopted: "Whereas, the so-called "Old Mill Site" in Marshall County, Minnesota, is a natural amphitheater and playground, used by the people of Northwestern Minnesota for years as a picnic ground, pageant site, and meeting place, and whereas said site has a historical background with an old mill and millstones, with a stream and natural woods and a hillside providing adequate seating capacity for an outdoor amphitheater, which site is centrally located and better adapted for such purposes than any other in this part of the state, and its establishments as a state park is being promoted by the Marshall County Historical Society, the Warren Commercial Club, and other civic organizations, and a plat and maps thereof are being prepared by such organizations to show the location. Adaptability and extent thereof: Therefore be it resolved, that the Board of County Commissioners of Marshall County, Minnesota go on record in favor of the establishment of a State Park at the Old Mill Site above described." The state has acquired this site and it is in process of development.

Early travel was by way of rivers and trails. These trails were not real roads, but merely well worn paths. One important trail through Marshall County was the East Plains Trail over which the early ox carts carried furs from Fort Garry and Pembina to near St. Paul, returning with merchandise and other supplies. Better transportation became a necessity as settlements grew, and as soon as counties were established, the county boards made provisions for roads. In Marshall County, the first consideration in 1879 was for bridges. Road districts were established in January 1880.

In 1871, railroads were completed to Breckenridge and Fargo, but none reached Marshall County until 1878. Today, the Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Sault Ste. Marie crosses the central part of the county from south to north, and a branch of this road crosses the southern border from Thief River to the Dakota line. The Great Northern railroad crosses the western part of the county from south to north, and also crosses the central part of the county.

In 1880, one-third of the farms in the county averaged over 1,000 acres. By 1910, 49.6 percent of the land area was in farms and in 1935 it had increased to 76.2 percent. However, diversified farming has become popular since single crop farming develops weed pests, plant diseases, insects, etc, which lower the fertility of the soil. Therefore, the raising of cattle, sheep, and hogs has become important. Many factories for cheese and butter making have been established in the area.

Statistics of the fifteenth census of the United States in 1930 show that there were 3,256 foreign-born in the county. Of these, 1,292 are from Norway; 1,148 from Sweden; 224 from Canada; 147 from Poland; 59 from Denmark; 56 from Finland; 41 from Czechoslovakia; 23 from Scotland; 25 from England; 14 from Ireland; 13 from France; 12 from Austria; 11 from Russia; and 36 from other countries. The population, which began about 1878 with only a few families, increased to 992 in 1830 and to 17,003 in 1930; today it is around 10,000, since not many hands are needed in farming anymore.

The County Courthouse is a beautiful and historic building. The first Marshall County Courthouse was a one-room building was built in 1879. Three hundred dollars covered the cost for materials and labor. The county board resolved to move the county seat from Warren to Argyle in April 1881. By February 1882, the county officers returned to Warren. The board resolved to appropriate not over $5,000 to erect and furnish a courthouse. To use the first small courthouse they moved it to the rear of the new courthouse and in 1886 improvements were done for use as the county jail. In 1889 and again 1894 additions were made; however, by 1899 the jail had been condemned and the board agreed that the county records were not adequately protected.

A yellow-bricked two story Romanesque Revival structure was built in 1900. A tall tower was placed in the center of the façade as the courthouse's main feature. In 1909 a large addition was added to the courthouse onto the west side. The current Marshall County Law Enforcement Center was built and joined to the courthouse on the east end in 1974 and it all looks beautiful today!

The old log cabin and a steam-powered flour mill at Old Mill State Park are bold landmarks from the past. The grist mill still gets fired up once a year to grind flour. The Middle River meanders through the park and visitors can see deer, beaver, and moose. Enjoy the prairie and the ever-changing parade of wildflowers along wooded trails. A swimming area, swinging bridge, picnic grounds, campground, and interpretive displays are popular among visitors. The camping season at Old Mill State Park is from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, but the park is open for day-use, year-round.