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Minnesota County
Lyon County, Minnesota
Marshall - southwest Minnesota's wind energy capital and Laura Ingalls Wilder country - from Lyon County's wind energy leadership (the southwest Minnesota prairie's consistent winds have made Lyon County and the surrounding region one of the most significant wind energy producing areas in the Midwest - the turbines rising from the flat prairie represent a new agricultural crop that has diversified farm income and made Minnesota a national leader in wind power generation) to the Laura Ingalls Wilder connection (the De Smet, South Dakota homestead where Laura Ingalls Wilder set her Little House on the Prairie books is just across the border, and the southwest Minnesota prairie landscape that surrounds Marshall is the same terrain Wilder described in her beloved series).
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Office: Lyon County Emergency Management – 607 W. Main St, Marshall, MN 56258, (507) 706-1276
Services: Coordinates response across law enforcement, fire, public health, EMS, environmental services, and volunteer agencies such as the Red Cross.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US Highway 59 and Minnesota Highway 23 serve Marshall, the county seat, in southwestern Minnesota
Transit: Lyon County Public Works – 504 Fairgrounds Road, Marshall, MN 56258.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Lyon County Zoning/SWCD – 1424 E College Dr # 600, Marshall, MN 56258 | Hours: Mon-Fri 8 AM–4:30 PM
Services: The City of Marshall issues its own building permits within city limits, (507) 537-6773; Lyon County Courthouse handles permits outside city limits, (507) 537-6722.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
County VSO: Lyon County Veterans Services – 607 W. Main St, Marshall, MN 56258
Libraries
LIBRARIES
System: Marshall-Lyon County Library (Plum Creek Library System) – 201 C St, Marshall, MN 56258, (507) 537-7003 | Hours: Tue-Thu 10 AM–8 PM, Fri 10 AM–6 PM, Sat 10 AM–5 PM (closed Sun-Mon)
Services: Three-location system (Marshall, Balaton, Cottonwood) that also collaborates with the independent Minneota and Tracy public libraries to serve all of Lyon County.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Lyon County’s seat, Marshall, is genuinely the birthplace and continuing headquarters of Schwan’s Company, one of the largest frozen-food companies in the United States. On March 18, 1952, 23-year-old Marvin Schwan – son of German immigrants who had started a small dairy in Marshall in 1941 – loaded 14 gallons of his family’s homemade ice cream into a used 1946 Dodge panel van and began selling door-to-door to rural farm families north of town, launching what would grow into a multibillion-dollar company. The distinctive Inca Gold-colored delivery trucks, still a familiar sight today, trace back to that first van, later painted by a local artist friend. After a 1974 fire destroyed the company’s ice cream plant and corporate headquarters, Marvin Schwan chose to rebuild in Marshall rather than relocate, and Schwan’s Company remains headquartered there today, though it became majority-owned by South Korea’s CJ CheilJedang in 2019
Notes: Lyon County’s Marshall is genuinely the birthplace and continuing headquarters of Schwan’s Company, one of America’s largest frozen-food companies, founded there in 1952.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
GIS Portal: Lyon County GIS – accessible via lyonco.org
Parcel Search: Lyon County Assessor – 607 W. Main St, Marshall, MN 56258
Addressing/911: Coordinated through Lyon County Emergency Management
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Facility: Humane Society of Lyon County / Impoundment Center – P.O. Box 541, Marshall, MN 56258
Services: Operates an animal impoundment center and a foster-family program to help alleviate euthanasia due to lack of shelter space; the City of Marshall also operates its own Animal Impound facility for stray dogs and cats within city limits.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Environmental Complaints: Minnesota Pollution Control Agency – pca.state.mn.us
Notes: Contact your specific municipality directly for current refuse collection and recycling program details.
NOTES
Lyon County’s Marshall is genuinely the birthplace and continuing headquarters of Schwan’s Company, one of America’s largest frozen-food companies, founded there in 1952. All contact information above was sourced from official county, city, library, and shelter pages as of this writing; phone numbers and hours should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit.
About Lyon County
Lyon County is southwest Minnesota’s wind energy prairie – the consistent prairie winds have made the region one of the Midwest’s most significant wind power producers, and Marshall’s Southwest Minnesota State University anchors a southwest Minnesota commercial hub surrounded by the same tall-grass prairie landscape Laura Ingalls Wilder described in her Little House books.
Marshall (the county seat, population ~14,000) is the regional commercial and educational hub for southwest Minnesota’s agricultural communities.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Lyon County Assessor at 607 W. Main Street, Marshall, MN 56258, phone 507-537-6724. MN homestead exclusion reduces taxable market value.
Courts & Legal
Lyon County District Court at 607 W. Main Street, Marshall, MN 56258, phone 507-537-6730, handles probate.
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Lyon County District Court (probate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Lyon County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Lyon County District Court Lyon County Courthouse, 607 West Main Street, Marshall, MN 56258 (507) 706-7050 Lyon County is in southwestern Minnesota, seated in Marshall.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Minnesota follows the Uniform Probate Code, which keeps most estates on a streamlined informal track. Minnesota’s small-estate shortcuts are unusual among states in that they can include real property, not just personal property.
Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property (Minn. Stat. § 524.3-1201) – for personal property only. The entire probate estate – including the contents of any safe deposit box, less liens and encumbrances – must be under $75,000. Joint tenancy property and assets that pass by beneficiary designation (life insurance, transfer-on-death accounts) don’t count toward the threshold. A 30-day waiting period applies after death, and no court filing is required – the affidavit is presented directly to the institution holding the property.
Summary Assignment – can include real property, and is court-based. Covers estates up to $75,000, including real property. A certified copy of the court’s Decree of Distribution is filed in the county real estate records to transfer title.
Summary Administration (Minn. Stat. § 524.3-1203) – the higher-threshold real-property option, covering estates up to $150,000, exclusive of the exempt homestead. The homestead itself is excluded from the value calculation entirely for both Summary Assignment and Summary Administration – Minnesota’s homestead exemption protects the family home from most creditor claims and it descends to the surviving spouse free of most claims against the estate. If closing and distribution follow the terms of a will, a formal probate hearing for the will is still required before a summary decree can issue.
STEP 2: FORMAL/INFORMAL PROBATE (for estates above the thresholds)
File with the District Court in the county where the decedent was domiciled; informal probate is available for most estates, with the personal representative appointed by the Registrar and minimal ongoing court interaction.
The personal representative publishes a creditor notice and directly notifies known creditors, opening a 4-month creditor claim period.
Once the creditor period closes and debts are paid, assets can typically be distributed and the estate closed without returning to court, unless there’s a dispute or a beneficiary requests a formal accounting.
Formal probate – requiring a hearing before a judge – is used in more complicated situations, such as will contests or disputes over the personal representative.
THE 3-YEAR DEADLINE – MORE RESTRICTIVE THAN MOST STATES Informal probate is no longer available after 3 years from the date of death, though formal probate may still be possible in limited circumstances.
What it costs
Small estate procedures can move relatively quickly once the 30-day wait passes. Standard informal probate is largely governed by the 4-month creditor period, so most straightforward estates take at least that long to close.
Minnesota has its own state estate tax, but the exemption threshold is relatively high – $3 million – so most Minnesota families aren’t affected. Rates on the amount above the exemption range from 13% to 16%, applied on a graduated scale; the exemption is not portable between spouses. Minnesota has no state inheritance tax.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
911 W. College Dr., Marshall, MN 56258
(507) 532-9296
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
607 W. Main St., Marshall, MN 56258
(507) 537-6730
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
MN DHS — Southwest Region
(507) 537-6636
Sanford Marshall Medical Center
sanfordhealth.org (Marshall — quality regional hospital; major southwestern Minnesota anchor)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Lyon County Public Health – Marshall, MN 56258
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