[2] The county is named for Colonel Alexander Wilkin, a lawyer who served as Minnesota's U.S. marshal and was later killed in the Civil War.

He became the Confederate secretary of state in 1861; this disloyalty to the Union displeased county residents, who petitioned for a name change.

The future Breckenridge, Minnesota was settled beginning in the 1850s, and a town was platted there in the spring of 1857.

The Bois de Sioux River flows northward along the county's west border.

The Otter Tail River flows west-northwestward through the central part of the county and merges with the Bois de Sioux at Breckenridge to form the Red River, which continues to flow along the county's west line northward toward the Hudson Bay in Canada.

Wilkin County terrain consists of low rolling hills, completely devoted to agriculture.

[5] The terrain slopes to the west and north, with its highest point on the upper east border at 1,250 ft (380 m) ASL.

In no national election since 1976 has the county selected the Democratic Party candidate (as of 2024).