Humboldt County, Iowa

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

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History

Humboldt County is named in honor of Baron Friedrich Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt, a famous German scientist, explorer and statesman.

The county was originally created on January 15, 1851 but was then legislated out of existence in July 1855. The land was given to Kossuth and Webster counties. On February 26, 1857 the county was re-established as Humboldt County but only with 12 townships.

The first white man to build a cabin in the county was Henry Lott. In 1854, Lott killed Sidominadotah, an Indian chief, and most of his family and then fled the state. The Spirit Lake Massacre was led by Inkpaduta, brother of Sidominadotah.

The county had been in existence for 15 years before a courthouse was erected at Dakota City, which had been chosen as the county seat in 1857. This first courthouse was built at a cost of $5,000. It was constructed of bricks that were made at the courthouse site. The original size of the building was supposed to be 37-foot x 47-foot, but the final dimensions were 47-foot x 59-foot and two stories high.

After several heated debates, the citizens of Humboldt County finally agreed to the construction of a new courthouse. Some people felt Humboldt should get the new building, but Dakota City remained the county seat.

Dakota City has the smallest population of any county seat in Iowa (911 as of 2000 census).

The building was dedicated on February 25, 1939. It is a three-story, 64-foot. x 104-foot gray brick building. The county paid $95,000 of the $175,000 cost. The remaining balance was furnished by the Public Works Administration.

Source: Peggy Rice, Humboldt County Auditor, 2002

Neighboring Counties:

North: Kossuth County
Northeast: Hancock County
East: Wright County
South: Webster County
West: Pocahontas County
Northwest: Palo Alto County

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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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