Chickasaw County, Iowa

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

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History

The county is named for the prominent Indian nation in the south. The county was established in 1851 and originated in 1853.

The county seat in the early stages of the county was located at Bradford, named after the chief of the Chickasaw Indian tribe. A plain log cabin, erected at a cost of $1,840, was used as the first courthouse. In the spring of 1857 the county seat was moved to New Hampton, a town more centrally located in the county. Following this there were several attempts to remove the county seat from New Hampton. Some county seat bidders were Fredericksburg, Bradford, and Forest City. All were unsuccessful in gaining the county seat.

In 1865 the first courthouse in New Hampton was completed. In 1876 an addition was completed on this building. The entire building was totally destroyed in a fire on March 26, 1880. Many irreplaceable documents were lost, but many more were saved with the help of the "Hook & Ladder Co.," and concerned citizens. With the help of a falling mist and buckets of water, the fire was finally extinguished, with total losses estimated at $2,000.

Due to towns fighting over the location of the county seat, it was not until 1881 that the central portion of a new courthouse was completed at New Hampton. The third courthouse cost $10,500 to complete; New Hampton paid $5,000 of the cost. The building was made of brick and stone. The inside was trimmed with black walnut and ash. In 1905 a wing was added on at a cost of $4,219, and one year later a second wing was completed with a cost of $200.

The current courthouse was completed in 1929 at a cost of $134,000. Architects for the courthouse were Ralston and Ralston of Waterloo, and it was constructed by Tarazar Construction Co. of Albert Lea, Minnesota.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Howard County
Northeast: Winneshiek County
Southeast: Fayette County
South: Bremer County
Southwest: Butler County
West: Floyd County
Northwest: Mitchell County

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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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