This county, established February 20, 1855, was named for Hon. Charles Thomas Stearns, member of the council of the territorial legislature, 1854 and 1855. The name, however, was decided by a mistake, told in the History of the Upper Mississippi Valley as follows: "The bill, as originally introduced, bore the name of Stevens county, in honor of Governor Stevens, then prominently connected with the survey of the Northern Pacific railroad and passed both branches of the Legislature in that shape; but in the enrollment of the bill the change occurred from Stevens to Stearns, and when discovered, it was concluded best to let the matter stand, as the name was still in the line of honorable mention, and Mr. Stearns well entitled to public recognition in this way."

Stearns was born in Pittsfield, Mass., January 9, 1807; came from Illinois to Minnesota in 1849 and first settled in St. Anthony; thence removed in 1855 to St. Cloud, the county seat of Stearns County, where he was proprietor of a hotel during 14 years; and about the year 1870, having sold his hotel to be one of the buildings of the State Normal School, he removed to Mobile, Ala. Later he resided in New Orleans, La., and died there May 22, 1898. He was the last survivor of the founders of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Minnesota.