Pipestone County, Minnesota: History
The county was formed on May 23, 1857, by act of the territorial legislature, but was not organized at that time. The area was first designated Rock County while the name Pipestone County was attached to neighboring Rock County. An act of the Minnesota state legislature on February 20, 1862, swapped the designations, attaching the present names to the present counties, due to the pipestone quarry in this county.
Pipestone County organization was effected by a state act on January 27, 1879, with Pipestone City (which had been platted in 1876) as the county seat (the name of the county seat was later shortened to Pipestone). The pipestones are from deposits of red pipestone Native Americans used to make pipes.
Pipestone National Monument is in the county, just north of the town of Pipestone.
In March 1915, a law was signed to give Minnesota counties the right to choose whether to allow alcohol production. Pipestone voted on the law, which yielded a margin of 4 votes in favor of keeping the county wet. Dry county proponents appealed to the Minnesota District Court and the Supreme Court, but the courts ruled in favor of a wet county.