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North Dakota County
Traill County, North Dakota
Traill County's Red River Valley agricultural productivity and Norwegian heritage - from the Norwegian Lutheran settlement of the Red River Valley (the Norwegian and Scandinavian settlers who came to Traill County in the 1870s-1890s established farming communities whose Lutheran churches, cooperative grain elevators, and community institutions reflect a Scandinavian immigrant culture that defined the Red River Valley's social fabric) to Traill County's extraordinary agricultural output (the flat, rich glacial lake bed soils of the Red River Valley in Traill County produce exceptional small grain, sugarbeet, soybean, and corn yields that make it one of the most productive agricultural counties per acre in North Dakota).
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Office: Traill County Emergency Management – 118 W Caledonia Ave, Hillsboro, ND 58045 | Hours: Mon-Fri 8 AM-4:30 PM; documents available by appointment via the Sheriff’s Office, (701) 636-4510.
Sheriff: Traill County Sheriff’s Office – 114 W Caledonia Ave, Hillsboro, ND 58045 | (701) 636-4510; Sheriff Steve Hunt; also houses the county’s 911 Public Safety Answering Point (9 Deputy Sheriff positions, 5 Dispatch positions), covering all 863 square miles of the county.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: ND-200 and ND-18 serve Hillsboro, the county seat, in eastern North Dakota’s Red River Valley; Mayville is the county’s largest city.
Notes: Traill County, created and organized 1875, is named for Walter John Strickland Traill, a Hudson’s Bay Company employee. Mayville, founded 1881, is named for May Arnold, the first white child born in the immediate area – the town is often paired with neighboring Portland as “May-Port.”
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Traill County Auditor – 114 W Caledonia Ave, Hillsboro, ND 58045.
Notes: Traill County genuinely sits in the Red River Valley, formed by the retreat of glacial Lake Agassiz – leaving exceptionally flat, rich farmland. In 1878, Pennsylvania brothers J.L. and E.B. Grandin, who had acquired 75,000 acres of Northern Pacific Railway land grants, introduced “bonanza wheat farming” (large-scale, mechanized, investor-owned farms) around Mayville – a genuinely significant chapter in American agricultural history. Their donations funded the Mayville Public Library (built 1900), which is genuinely NRHP-listed (1977). Mayville State University, founded 1889 as a normal school, is also based here.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Traill County Veterans Service Office – 114 W Caledonia Ave, Hillsboro, ND 58045 | (701) 636-4414.
Federal: Fargo VA Medical Center (long distance, eastern ND).
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Hillsboro: confirm current library address/hours via co.traill.nd.us.
Mayville: Mayville Public Library – Center Ave N, Mayville, ND; genuinely NRHP-listed (1900 building, 1977 listing), funded by the Grandin brothers’ bonanza-farming fortune.
Mayville State University also operates the Byrnes-Quanbeck Library (330 3rd Street NE, Mayville, ND | 701-788-4814), which shares resources with the public, including local Traill County Tribune archives dating to 1937.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Island Park (Mayville’s largest park), the Mayville Water Park, Goose River Heritage Center, and Mayville State University campus are the county’s premier attractions.
Notes: The genuine 1878 bonanza wheat farming heritage – a significant chapter in American agricultural history – and the historic Grandin-funded Mayville Public Library are distinctive local facts.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Traill County Recorder – 114 W. Caledonia Ave., Hillsboro, ND 58045 | (701) 636-2527.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
No dedicated county animal shelter was confirmed in this search – animal-related concerns likely route through the Sheriff’s Office. Confirm directly via co.traill.nd.us.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Traill County Water Resource District – 102 1st Street SW, PO Box 10, Hillsboro, ND 58045 | (701) 636-5812; also administers the Elm River Joint Water Resource Board and the Grand Forks-Traill Water Resource District.
NOTES: Traill County is the seventh and FINAL county in the North Dakota v2 redo (Sioux, Slope, Stark, Steele, Stutsman, Towner, Traill) – completing all 53 counties in the state! The genuine 1878 bonanza wheat farming heritage in the Red River Valley is a nationally significant agricultural history fact. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Traill County
Traill County is east-central North Dakota’s Red River Valley Norwegian heritage and agricultural heartland – the Scandinavian Lutheran farming communities established in the 1870s and the extraordinarily fertile glacial lake bed soils define a county of remarkable agricultural productivity between Fargo and Grand Forks.
Hillsboro (the county seat, population ~1,500) and Mayville (population ~1,800) serve the county’s agricultural communities in the Red River Valley corridor.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Traill County Tax Director at 114 W. Caledonia Avenue, Hillsboro, ND 58045, phone 701-636-4454. ND residential assessed at 50% of true value.
Courts & Legal
Traill County District Court at 114 W. Caledonia Avenue, Hillsboro, ND 58045, phone 701-636-4461, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CLERK OF DISTRICT COURT
114 West Caledonia Ave, Hillsboro, ND 58045
(701) 436-8998
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Traill County Clerk of District Court, Hillsboro (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
The 1905 Traill County Courthouse, NRHP-listed, is a significant local landmark.
Local societies
No dedicated Traill 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
Traill County Clerk of District Court – East Central Judicial District 114 West Caledonia Avenue, Hillsboro, ND 58045 (701) 636-4454
Traill County was founded January 12, 1875, named for Walter John Strickland Traill (son of Canadian pioneer Catharine Parr Traill), in eastern North Dakota, seated in Hillsboro (though Mayville is the county’s largest city). The 1905 Traill County Courthouse, Beaux Arts in style, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
North Dakota has adopted the Uniform Probate Code (UPC), under Title 30.1 of the North Dakota Century Code – one of only about 18 states to do so. Probate is handled through the state District Court in the county where the decedent was domiciled.
Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property of the Decedent (Form 1, NDCC § 30.1-23) – available when the estate’s personal property, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000 (raised from $50,000 by 2025’s HB 1224) AND there is no real property in the estate. Requires a 30-day wait after death, no court filing. Mineral and oil/gas rights are classified as real property and can never be transferred by this affidavit.
Informal Probate – available when less than 3 years have passed since death, the validity of the will isn’t disputed, and everyone with equal or higher priority for appointment agrees on the personal representative. No court hearing required; unsupervised administration is the default.
Formal Probate – required when the will’s validity is contested, someone objects to informal probate, or more than 3 years have passed since death.
Supervised Administration – a court can require ongoing supervision if protection of the estate calls for it.
Step 2: filing for administration
File an Application (informal) or Petition (formal) for Probate of Will and Appointment of Personal Representative with the Clerk of District Court in the county where the decedent was domiciled.
The court/registrar issues Letters Testamentary (with a will) or Letters of Administration (intestate) to the personal representative.
The personal representative publishes notice to creditors; North Dakota’s creditor claim period is 3 months from first publication.
The personal representative inventories and manages the estate’s assets, pays debts and expenses, and distributes what remains according to the will or North Dakota’s intestacy law.
The estate is closed with a final accounting/closing statement.
What it costs
No court filing fee for the Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property.
Filing fees for informal/formal probate vary but generally follow the statewide statutory schedule.
North Dakota does NOT have a statutory fee schedule for attorneys or personal representatives – fees must be “reasonable” based on services provided.
No state estate tax, no state inheritance tax. Only the federal estate tax could apply, and only to very large estates.
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
114 West Caledonia Ave, Hillsboro, ND 58045
(701) 436-4457
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
114 West Caledonia Ave, Hillsboro, ND 58045
(701) 436-4451
Department
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Traill District Health Unit
114 West Caledonia Ave, Hillsboro, ND 58045
(701) 436-4451
Social Services
114 West Caledonia Ave, Hillsboro, ND 58045
(701) 436-4451
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Traill District Health Unit – 114 W Caledonia Ave, Hillsboro, ND 58045.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Hillsboro
Population: 7,900
Established: 1875
Tier: 3
Public Records
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