The Pepin County Government Center on June 3, 2018
Pepin County was created in 1858 from the southern portion of Dunn County. Looking at the map, it’s hard to figure out why the state legislature created a new county here: Pepin County is the smallest county in Wisconsin in terms of land area. The new county was named after the French explorers Pierre and Jean Pepin du Chardonnets and not Pepin the Short who was King of the Franks from 751 to 768.
Durand is the county seat; it was first settled in 1856 by Miles Durand Prindle. The original name of the settlement was Bear Creek. It was incorporated as a city in 1887 and is located on the Chippewa River.
The Pepin County government center is located at 740 7th Avenue West in Durand. The old county courthouse is now a museum and it is located at 315 West Madison Street in Durand. Pepin County is one of those counties that have a “government center” instead of a courthouse. The county courts are in the same building as the sheriff’s office and the Durand police department.
The old courthouse was built in 1874 and is now on the National Register of Historic Places. The government center building was built around 1950 and used as a hospital and a nursing home. In 1983 the building was deeded to the county and was remodeled. The new government center opened in 1984, and in the late 1990s an addition was built to increase the space for the jail and the law center.
I visited on June 3, 2018 and the government center was a bit difficult to get to due to some road construction and a poorly marked detour. After I walked around the government center, I headed to the old county courthouse. It’s quite a striking building, one of the few surviving wooden courthouses in the state. It’s now a museum and it was open when I was in Durand, but I was on a fairly tight schedule and could not spend the time there. Someday perhaps. I did make a quick stop at the Lower Chippewa View Park to visit the Pepin County Veterans Memorial. It is very nice and it’s in a great location on the river.
Once again I must confess that I have no memories of Pepin County or Durand. It is possible that I’ve driven through Pepin county at some point, but I don’t think I ever stopped anywhere in the county. Certainly I’ve never visited Durand before. But I enjoyed my brief visit, and I hope to be back again someday soon.