Audubon County, Iowa

Audubon County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

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History

John James Audubon, famous American naturalist and artist, died in 1855. Admirers of his were influential enough to get this newly formed county named in his honor. The county was established in 1851 and originated in 1855.

The history of the county is filled with conflicts and battles, most over the center of county government. The conflict begins with the first site of county business. One report has the first location of county government in a log schoolhouse at Hamlin's Grove. A second report has it at Dayton until 1856, when people realized that Dayton would never become a town. The following year there was a proposal to move the county seat to Viola (now called Exira). It failed, but on its second attempt, in 1861, it was approved and the county seat was now located in Viola.

Fierce battles continued between Exira, Oakfield and Louisville, but the county seat remained at Exira. In the fall of 1871, the Board of Supervisors approved $6,948 for the construction of the first courthouse at Exira. This plan was stopped by yet another county seat battle -- this one coming from Hamlin. The residents of Hamlin wanted the county seat back in their town. A heated contest developed between the towns. From 1872-1873, petitioners were out in force gathering signatures from all over the county. The last 24 hours they were out all night. In the end, Exira retained the county seat. Following this the citizens of Exira formed the Exira Hall Company and built the courthouse at a cost of $2,200.

This is not the end of the county seat battles in Audubon County. In 1878 the Rock Island Railroad built a branch from Atlantic to their newly formed town of Audubon. There they built a courthouse and offered it free to the county, if they moved the county seat to Audubon. An election was held to decide the location of the county seat. The Rock Island Railroad offered free room and board for men 60 days prior to the election and there "any man could vote for Audubon, no questions asked." The men of Exira were apparently no better. Groups of them, some carrying loaded revolvers, hung around the election centers "challenging" votes. In the end Audubon was declared the new county seat. To this day it is said that residents of Exira are still harbor bitter feelings towards Audubon.

In 1938 the Board of Supervisors applied for a Public Works Administration grant for the construction of a new courthouse. The estimated cost of the project was $131,775 and the grant was approved for 45 percent of this. A bond issue was approved to fund the remaining 55 percent. By the winter of 1939, county officials began to move into the new courthouse and the dedication ceremony was held on June 11, 1940.

Source: History of Audubon County, compiled by Lois Oakley, Audubon County Recorder, Audubon, Iowa. 1990.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Carroll County
East: Guthrie County
Southeast: Adair County
South: Cass County
West: Shelby County
Northwest: Crawford County

Cities:

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County Resources:

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County Resource Guide

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we’ve given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the “characteristic features of our country!”

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn’t the only reason to explore counties’ role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today’s counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990’s political slogan “Think globally, act locally.”

Penn Foster High School

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