Iowa County, Iowa

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

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History

Iowa County derives its name from the Iowa River, which runs through the county, and for the Ioway Indian tribe.

The county was established in 1843. The county seat, Marengo, was originated on August 13, 1845, 14 years before it was even a town. It seems that a land speculator by the name of E. C. Lyons beat the county officials to the land office and bought the area of Marengo. It took some time for county officials to round up the funds to purchase the county seat from Lyons. Local citizens who contributed were paid back with town lots.

The county seat of Iowa County has always been Marengo, but not without a fight. The first battle came when some settlers disliked the town name. "Marengo" comes from Italy, where Napoleon Bonaparte gained a celebrated victory. The area of the Iowa Valley that contains Marengo is said to resemble that same area in Italy. The settlers changed the name to Valley Forge but later it was discovered that they had no authority, so the name remained Marengo.

A second battle over the county seat came in March 1857, when the enemies of Marengo started a movement to move the county seat to Genoa Bluffs. A petition was presented to the judge asking that the question of the location of the county seat be put on the general election on April 1857. It was soon discovered, however, that the petition contained names of non-legal voters. These names removed, the petition no longer contained sufficient numbers to call for an election.

The final battle came from Williamsburg. A petition was presented, with the sufficient number of signatures, and an election was held in November 1864. Marengo won out by a vote of 968 to 500.

The first courthouse was a log cabin that cost $50 to build in 1847. It was rejected by the county as being to small, but they did rent it for some years, until 1850. That was when the second courthouse was completed. This more elaborate building was used until 1861. Construction of a third courthouse began in 1861 an the completed cost was $2,000. In 1869 this building underwent the construction of an addition, but by 1890 the courthouse was too small for county business.

The current courthouse was erected in 1892. It is a two-story, stone building ornamented with turrets and a tower. It was designed by Foster and Liebbe and constructed by P. H. Wind at a cost of $57,608.

Sources:
Dinwidde, James C., History of Iowa County Iowa, vol.1, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. , Chicago: 1915
Lillie, Pauline, Marengo, the County Seat, Marengo the Town, 1984

Neighboring Counties:

North: Benton County
Northeast: Linn County
East: Johnson County
Southeast: Washington County
South: Keokuk County
West: Poweshiek County
Northwest: Tama 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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