 Emmons County was named for James A. Emmons 1843-1919, by territorial legislator Erastus A. Williams. Emmons came to Bismarck, North Dakota in 1872 as the post trader at Camp Hancock. He was a steamboat captain on the Missouri and Mississippi rivers and an early Bismarck merchant and entrepreneur. He was involved in establishing the Bismarck Sun newspaper in 1880. He was born at Guyandotte, Virginia on December 29, 1843.
The county was established February 10, 1879 and organized November 9, 1883 with the county seat being placed at Williamsport. As settlers moved into the Southern part of the county a move was made to relocate the courthouse to a more centralized location and the general election of 1898 the new town site of Linton was chosen with the actual move occurring in 1899.
The county is 1,555 square miles (of which 45 square miles is water) and a peak population of 12,467 was reached in 1930. The 2000 population was 4,331.
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