The county name was chosen by territorial legislator Erastus A. Williams, to honor his father-in-law, Mathias K. Hettinger (1810-1890), who had been a banker and public figure in Freeport, Illinois.

The county was dissolved on November 3, 1896, but was re-created on May 24, 1901, by an action of the state supreme court.

[6] The vote was approved, annexation went into effect November 3, 1896, and Hettinger County was eliminated.

The case went to the North Dakota Supreme Court, which ruled the law unconstitutional on May 18, 1899.

[5][7][8] The annexation remained in effect, however, due to a replacement law approved by the legislature March 9, 1899 in anticipation of the court's decision.

The North Dakota Supreme Court ruled the 1903 law unconstitutional in 1905, which ended further attempts at annexation.

The county terrain consists of semi-arid rolling hills, mostly devoted to agriculture.

[14] The terrain slopes to the east and south; its highest point is a hill at the northwestern corner, at 2,897 ft (883 m) ASL.

In terms of ancestry, 71.1% were German, 15.8% were Norwegian, 6.1% were Russian, 5.9% were Czech, 5.4% were Irish, 5.3% were Hungarian, and 3.2% were American.