Julius J. Olson

Who is Julius J. Olson?

Julius J. Olson was a lawyer and justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. He was born on Donna Island, Norway, and emigrated to Lake Park, Minnesota at age eight. He graduated from Detroit Lakes, Minnesota High School in 1897 and from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1900. He practiced law in Warren, Minnesota with Andrew Grindeland, who was appointed a district court judge in 1903. In 1927, Olson took on as an associate Oscar Knutson, who eventually succeeded him both as a district court judge and on the Minnesota Supreme Court. Upon Grindeland's retirement in 1930, Governor Theodore Christianson appointed Olson to replace him. Olson was elected to the post in 1930. On March 5, 1934, Governor Floyd B. Olson appointed Olson to the Supreme Court. He was elected to the position later that year and re-elected in 1940 and 1946. In 1948, Olson retired from the court and was replaced by Knutson. He died in Warren on May 22, 1955.

Olson was the founder and first secretary of the Marshall County Agricultural Association. His wife was the former Caroline Sletten, and both of their children, Sletten and Katherine, became lawyers. A third child, Julius Johan Olson, died at age four.