Welcome to Dunn County, ND

Dunn County was created by the 1883 Dakota Territory legislature and named for John Piatt Dunn, who opened the first drugstore in North Dakota. He was a civic and commercial leader during the early history of Bismarck. The county government was first organized on February 10, 1908. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,082 square miles. Dunn County is unique among western North Dakota counties. Like other counties in the region, it has both prairie and badlands areas. Located in the northwest part of the county are the Killdeer Mountains, which are more accurately described as hills. These hills help create a mini-ecosystem on the southern edge of the Little Missouri Badlands, which has a greater abundance of aspen forests and wildlife than is typically found in southwestern North Dakota. The northwest corner of the county, northwest of the Killdeer Mountains, features many square miles of bur oak forest, mainly on the north-facing slopes of the hills. Bur oak and quaking aspen, though native to North Dakota, are sparse in western North Dakota, with Dunn County being a notable exception.