Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Services in Ortonville, MN

Ortonville, the county seat of Big Stone County, was platted in 1872 by Cornelius Knute Orton and named for him, and it was incorporated as a city in 1881.

The city sits at the southern tip of Big Stone Lake on the South Dakota border, and the Big Stone County Courthouse was built in 1902.

Big Stone Lake stretches 26 miles and covers 12,610 acres at roughly a mile wide, and at 965 feet above sea level it marks the lowest point in South Dakota.

Big Stone Lake is the source of the Minnesota River, which begins at the lake's southern end — regulated by the Big Stone Lake Dam, built in 1937 — and flows 332 miles to the Mississippi River.

The lake fills the valley carved by Glacial River Warren as it drained the ancient glacial Lake Agassiz.

The lake is stocked every two years with 7 million walleye fry and holds walleye, northern pike, bluegills and more than 30 other fish species across 12 public accesses — and the border-lake walleye season on it never closes.

Big Stone Lake State Park, established in 1961, preserves lake shoreline near town in its Meadowbrook, Overlook and Bonanza sections.

The Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge, more than 10,000 acres of wetlands and prairie along the Minnesota River, lies just outside Ortonville.

The 2020 census counted 2,021 residents in 915 households in Ortonville — the city actually grew 5.5% during the 2010s, reversing decades of decline from its 1960 peak of 2,674.

Ortonville skews older than most Minnesota cities: its 2020 median age was 47.3 years, and 29.3% of residents were 65 or older.