99 counties

9/4/2024

Iowa is divided into 99 parts, called counties. If 99 seems like a lot, it’s not compared to Texas with 254 or Georgia with 257. Even in our own neighborhood, Missouri, Kansas and Illinois all have more.

Why 99? About 183 years ago, sentiment dictated minimum and maximum sizes so that no farmer would be more than a day’s horse ride from his county seat. By 1851, Iowa had been divided into 100 counties conforming to that sentiment. Over the next 21 years, some lost land, others gained, and several names changed, but, in 1872, borders were finalized into the 99 that still comprise and divide the state.

Even after Google World, there is an argument about which county is smallest — more on that later. The biggest, Kossuth County, looks huge on the map with 974 square miles, but San Bernardino County, California, encompasses 20,105 square miles. In fact, the 10 largest counties in America are all bigger than Vermont.

Why is Kossuth County double-sized? The county was enlarged northward in 1857 by the inclusion of the former Bancroft County. Crocker County was another created out of the same area of Kossuth County as Bancroft County but was reverted due to not being larger than 432 square miles required in the Iowa Constitution. Another attempt to create a new county failed in 1914. We promise that is the last thing we will say about changing boundaries.

Polk County contains the state’s capital and largest city. It is also the most densely populated. Adams is the least: Its 3,611 population is only three-fourths that of Carlisle, Polk’s 14^th largest town.

Iowa has one of the smallest percentages of counties whose boundaries are dictated by natural means rather than survey lines. That’s why so many are box shaped. 

Hubris was remarkably missing in the naming of Iowa counties. Thirty of them were named for politicians, but only three of those were Iowans, several fewer than Kentuckians.   

Besides politicians, multiple counties are named for Native Americans and/or Native American fighters (23), Mexican War heroes or battles (12), Revolutionary War heroes (11), trappers or explorers (8), signers of the Declaration of Independence (7), foreign freedom fighters (5), and women and bodies of water (4 each). Three each are named for heroes of the War of 1812 and for writers or their words; two for Civil War heroes. One each are named for another state, an orator and a naturalist. That doesn’t add up to 99 because of duplications; John C. Fremont was five of those things.

None were named for cows, pigs, birds, corn, or beans— all essential to the state’s welfare. Several have undergone name changes. Lyon was originally Buncombe Count, but was changed in 1862 for reasons that became obvious when they tried to secure bonds. That’s no bunk.

 

Avenging women, lumber kings, popcorn balls and such

Here are some curious things about the 99 that are not well known, from the northwest corner and left to right, like they used to be numbered on license plates.

The first non-indigenous resident in Lyon County was known as “Uncle Dan” before he moved west for better trapping. The second was “Old Tom.” He was killed by a Sioux warrior who didn’t know his tribe had ceded the land to the U.S.

Osceola is the arguably the smallest and most recent county. In 2018, county seat Sibley lost a First Amendment lawsuit after trying to stop Josh Harms from complaining about the “rancid dog food” smell coming from a pig blood processor.

Dickinson claims to be the smallest county. Osceola disputes that because it counts Dickinson’s water covered acreage, which is considerable because of the Iowa Great Lakes. A Dickinson home with an Irish pub recently became the most expensive ever sold in Iowa.

Emmet was named for a young Irish rebel who was hanged as a British traitor. County seat Estherville was named after Esther A. Ridley, one of the first white female settlers in the area. 

Kossuth was named after Lajos Kossuth, who escaped Hungary after losing a revolution. In 1894, county seat Algona welcomed 100 orphans trained-in from New York City. Algona later hosted the Algona Brownies, a Negro baseball team, and 10,000 German prisoners of war.

Winnebago County seat Forest City also occupies Worth County. Forest City was previously named “Puckerbrush.” Sounds like the brush grew a lot.

Worth was named for William Jenkins Worth a hero of both the Seminole War and the Mexican War.  

Mitchell is named after Seán Mistéal, an anti-Jewish Irish patriot who was sentenced to exile in America where he became a pro-slavery supporter of Southern secession.

Howard is named after an Indiana Congressman. County seat “Cresco” is Latin for “I grow.” It has been steadily losing population since 1900.

Winneshiek is named for a Winnebago chief. County seat Decorah is named for a Ho Chunk chief. They are home of Seed Savers, the world’s chief privately owned seed bank.

Allamakee was named for either for a Native American chief or for trader Allen Magee. It is the picture child of the gorgeous Driftless Area where no ice invaded during the last Ice Age. (The Driftless also includes parts of Clayton, Dubuque, Fayette and Winneshiek.) It was never suitable for plowing over and row cropping — too many rocks, hills, and dales.

Sioux’s first county seat was Calliope, now part of Hawarden, home of the marvelous, wind-grieved Hawarden Steak House and a once thriving but westward-blown lamb industry.

O’Brien was named for an Irish independence fighter. One historian wrote, “Probably the only case in Iowa, perhaps anywhere, where a bare spot of raw prairie was actually voted to be the county seat.” That eventually became Primghar. 

Clay is named for a son of Henry Clay, Kentucky statesman known as “The Great Compromiser.” That was back when politicians compromised to accomplish important things. Sigh. County seat Spencer was settled by uncompromising Union veterans after the Civil War.  

Palo Alto is named for the first major battle of the Mexican-American War. County seat Emmetsburg was named for an Irish martyr. 

Hancock is named in honor of John Hancock of Declaration of Independence fame when he invented cursive bold type font. The Duesenberg brothers (Duesenberg Automobile) operated a bicycle business in county seat Garner. Evangelist Billy Sunday held his first revival meeting there, too. 

Cerro Gordo takes its name from the Mexican War battle where Santa Ana fell. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper fell in a field there on “The Day the Music Died.” (The Big Bopper wrote the hit song “Running Bear,” which sounds like the story of how Iowa’s Wapsipinicon River got its name.) County seat Mason City has Iowa’s largest Greek American population and the century old Greek restaurant Northwestern Steak House, a CHOICE member.

Floyd was named for the only member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition to die on the trail. County seat Charles City is where the Hart-Parr Gasoline Engine Company coined the word ‘tractor” and built the first successful tractor line.  

Fayette was named after Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette, who aided American independence.The vacuum cleaner was invented in county seat West Union.

Clayton was named for a Delaware politician. County seat Elkader is named after an Algerian freedom fighter. Schera’s Algerian restaurant there is the only café in Iowa serving camel. It also has the state’s best Levantine wine list. The old county jail there is now a B&B.

Plymouth is named for rock solid Massachusetts namesakes. It was home to Farmers Holiday Group, which tried to hang a judge they kidnapped from his courthouse. They were angry about farm foreclosures. Archie’s Waeside in Le Mars is a James Beard Award winning restaurant and CHOICE member.

Cherokee was named for a much abused Native American tribe. Native sons Adam Timmerman and T.J. Hockenson both made the NFL Pro Bowl.

Buena Vista was named for a Mexican-American War battle. County seat Storm Lake’s ethnic diversity has drawn the New York Times, Fox News and NBC to town.  

Pocahontas was named for a Native American princess in Jamestown, Virginia. County towns Rolfe, Powhatan Township and Varina also relate to Jamestown. Alaskan serial killer-baker Robert Hansen grew up working in his parents’ Pocahontas Home Bakery.

Humboldt is home to Unique, which is not the only ghost town. It produced two incredibly famous guys both named Frank A. Gotch. One was world heavyweight wrestling champion for eight years in the early 1900s when legitimate wrestlers were more famous than boxers. The other derived the mathematical expressions Kt/V to quantify and prescribe dialysis therapy for kidney failure.

Wright was either named for a governor of New York or another one from Indiana. It drew the largest protest ever, more than 1,000 people, of a Confined Animal Feeding Operation. Iowa Select Farms was draining pig poop directly into a wetland. Coincidentally, or not, Clarion’s Hagie Manufacturing claims to make the fastest self-propelled sprayers in the world.  

Franklin is named for Ben Franklin, who wooed the king of France to support American independence. County seat Hampton raised Jack Bailey, long time host of Queen for a Day.

Butler was named for a Mexican-American War hero. It claims to be the only county in Iowa that “does not have any stop lights, four-lane roads, a hospital, a movie theatre, or a fastfood chain.” Population has been falling for 45 years.

Bremer is the only county named for a Swedish feminist writer. County seat Waverly is the only one named for a place in Sir Walter Scott novels.

Woodbury renamed Wahkaw County to honor a politician from New Hampshire. Wahkaw’s county seat is not even a ghost town, it vanished. Sioux City took over. Its legendary Tastee Inn & Out invented the onion chip, which is so good it’s worth the drive from any county. The restaurant was only built because all fast food chains told its founder that Sioux City lacked the demographics for a franchise outlet. Elvis used to detour his bus to eat at another Sioux City fast food joint — Coney Island.

Ida is named after the first white girl born in the county. She was named after Mount Ida in Greece. Ida Grove includes a castle with a moat with a pirate ship.

Sac County and Sac City are named for a Native American tribe. Volunteers built a popcorn ball weighing 9,370 pounds in hopes of breaking the world record. It’s a main tourist attraction and now lives in its own house.

Calhoun renamed Fox County to honor secessionist John C. Calhoun of South Carolina. You couldn’t do that in Johnson County, as you will learn later.

Webster is named for orator Daniel Webster, a famous friend of the devil. More on him later about fiddling with another county’s namesake. It is the drywall capitol of America where Fort Dodge Plaster Mills mines, grinds and prepares gypsum so that families can partition into separate rooms. The minister artist Madai Taylor mines his pigments and media from local strip mines.

Hamilton is named after an Iowa politician, not the guy in the musical. Webster City was originally called Newcastle, but Irish settlers didn’t like living in an English-named town, according to one theory we heard in Karpy’s Bar.

Hardin is named for a Mexican War martyr. County seat Eldora was named after a local woman’s dead baby. Such death awareness probably inspired U.S. Poet Laureate Mona Van Duyn, who grew up in Eldora and wrote most famously about dread.

Grundy was named for a Tennessee politician whose bloviations subconsciously inspired WHO’s Ed Wilson to become a weatherman and comedian when growing up in Grundy Center.  

Black Hawk was named for a Sauk warrior. He also named a whole war. Bank robber Tommy Carroll, of the Carroll-Dillinger Gang, lost a shootout with the FBI and died in a Waterloo hospital. He had unwittingly parked next to a police car when things began going badly.

Buchanan was named after Pennsylvania politician James Buchanan before he became President. Iowa State Hospital for the Insane changed its name to honor county seat Independence.

Delaware’s “Field of Dreams” didn’t make “Shoeless Joe” a best seller, but it made Dyersville a tourist town. Edgewood Locker is the state’s biggest, selling products in more than 100 stores statewide and processing half a million pounds of deer meat a year.   

Dubuque is named for French trader Julien Dubuque, the first European settler of Iowa and a lead mining pioneer. County seat Dubuque is Iowa’s oldest city, chartered in 1833.

Monona was named for a character in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Song of Hiawatha.” The area around Onawa was a campground for Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Now it’s Lewis and Clark State Park.

Crawford was named for a Georgia politician. County seat Denison boasts the most booming diversity in the state, or can at least argue with Storm Lake about it. It launched contemporary meat packing, the reason your round steak no longer has a marrow bone. 

Carroll is named for a signer of the Declaration of Independence. It independently flaunted Prohibition, particularly in Templeton. Its Manning has street signs in German, an imported German Hausbarn, and Iowa’s first city-owned communications company.

Greene was named after Revolutionary War superstar Nathaniel Greene. George Gallup grew up in county seat Jefferson before quantifying word-of-mouth advertising.

Boone’s name referred to pioneer Nathan Boone not his father, Daniel. The county seat was originally named “Montana” but was changed to Boone, too. While not exactly mountainous, Boone has the highest elevation in central Iowa. Casey’s original store was in Boone.

Story was named after a Supreme Court justice. The geographical center of Iowa lies five miles northeast of Ames.  

Marshall was named after John Marshall, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Infamous racist and baseball superstar Cap Anson was the county’s first-born white child.

Tama was named after Taimah, a leader of the Meskwaki. Its Meskwaki Casino and Hotel houses the best collection of Native American art in the state, including works by Pahponee. More on her later.

Benton was named for War of 1812 hero Thomas Hart Benton, great uncle to the famous painter. Vinton’s library got its 15 minutes of fame for its collection of LBGTQ books and male librarians wearing dresses. Christian library card holders were accused of checking out the LBGTQ books and never returning them.

Linn is named in honor of a Missouri politician. Cedar Rapids is center of Czech and Slovak Iowa, and its Houby Festival is tribute to Iowa mushrooms and their hunters. Not just morels, but cepps, too.

Jones is named after an Iowa politician arrested during the Civil War for his Confederate sympathies. Sounds like a divided county. County seat Anamosa is named after an Native American girl child who charmed the town.

Jackson was named after President Andrew Jackson, who was hero of four wars, Native American fighter, slave owner, bacon pioneer, and the original populist President. Nebraskan Anthony Sherwin traveled all the way across Iowa to murder a family in Maquoketa Caves State Park. Barack Obama visited Maquoketa three times for far more peaceful reasons.

Harrison was named for William Henry Harrison who was President for a record one month, exactly. Daniel Webster edited his Inauguration speech, boasting he had “killed 17 Roman consuls, dead as smelts.” The county’s legendary Loess Hills’ soil is looted to stabilize foundations for Omaha buildings.

Shelby was named after a Revolutionary War hero and Governor of Kentucky. County seat Harlan’s Westside Lounge has claimed it was the oldest continuously operating bar west of the Mississippi — because it did not recognize Prohibition. Across the town square, Harlan hosted what was at the time the largest bust of illegal sports betting west of the Mississippi.

Audubon was named after John James Audubon, a naturalist and artist. Democrat Party chief Charles Taylor Manatt made his county lodge a famed destination for hunt-loving Arab sheiks and worldly statesmen. Ice trucker and perennial State Fair blue ribbon winner Diane Sheehy was their chef and many a pie went to Saudi Arabia.

Guthrie was named after a Mexican War casualty. Its Sheeder Prairie has launched several of Iowa’s natural foods renaissances. One Sheeder pioneer said she hated killing coyotes because they only killed her chickens to keep from starving. “But owls are different; they just murder for sport.”

Dallas was named for George M. Dallas, a Pennsylvania politician. It is Iowa’s fastest growing county and home to Stine Seed, the world’s largest private seed company, based in Adel. Waukee’s Alice Road is named for Alice Nizzi, a legendary restaurateur. Yes, Alice’s restaurant.

Polk is named for President James Polk. It was second choice to host the new state capitol after Iowa City but beat Jasper out because of the largess and savvy of Des Moines founding father and ferryman William Alexander Scott. Very little is named for him, not even Scott County. It took 100 years for his grave to be marked.

Jasper is named for a Revolutionary War hero. County seat Newton hosts Iowa’s only sculpture festival. It was home to Iowa’s first Argentine restaurant.

Poweshiek is named for a Fox chief. Grinnell is home to the best endowed and most liberal Iowa college, a modern 1921 hotel, and a famous café, Prairie Canary, that was won in a contest. It’s not normal, in a good way.

Iowa is one of seven counties to share the same name as its state. It is home to the Amana Colonies, a group of settlements of the Ebenezer Society of the Community of True Inspiration.

Johnson was originally named for rapist slave owner Richard M. Johnson but was changed to honor Lulu Merle Johnson, the first black woman in the state to earn a doctorate.   

Cedar was named for the river and was a brave underground railroad refuge.

Clinton is named for a New York politician who willed the building of the Erie Canal. “The Lumber Capitol of the World” during the last half of the 19^th century, Clinton boasted more millionaires per capita than any other city in the nation. Mark Twain lived there during the summer of 1855 working for his brother’s newspaper.

Muscatine was either named for an island in the Mississippi River or for a Native American tribe. Roy Carver built the world’s largest retread tire company, Bandag, in a Muscatine sauerkraut factory.

Scott was named for Native American wars hero Winfried Scott. Chief Keokuk gave land to its founding explorer Antoine Le Claire’s Native American wife. That became county seat Davenport, which is named for Le Claire’s canoe partner.

Pottawattamie takes its name from the Native American tribe. Until 1853, Council Bluffs was known as Kanesville, the Mormon landing port that ferried more wagon trains westward than any other place.

Cass is named after a Michigan senator. County seat Atlantic was named to settle a bet over which ocean was closer.

Adair was named for a War of 1812 hero and Kentucky politician. It raised Hugh Sidey, one of the great reporters of the 20^th century and confidante of JFK.

Madison was named for the fourth President and is home to the only highway tunnel in Iowa. County seat Winterset was originally to be Summerset, but its founders found its weather too cold for that.

Warren was named after a Revolutionary War hero. County seat Indianola was named after a Texas ghost town. Indianola school district has steadfastly resisted PC calls to change its high school nickname and logo from Indians. Simpson College folded to such pressures.

Marion is named for a Revolutionary War hero. The Number 5 coal mine in Flagler was Iowa’s most productive, employing 150 men and working a coal vein more than 8 feet thick. Peace Tree of Knoxville was the flagbearer for Iowa craft breweries before ending itself earlier this year.  

Mahaska was named after an Iowa chief. County seat Oskaloosa is named for a Creek princess who married Seminole Chief Osceola when such intermarriage was problematic.  

Keokuk was named for a Sauk chief who advocated peace with white settlers. It is the only county with two county fairs, in What Cheer and in Sigourney. What Cheer was the Greyhound bus destination of “Miss MacIntosh, My Darling,” a 3,449-page masterpiece novel by Marguerite Young. It was delivered to legendary editor Maxwell Perkins in seven wheelbarrows and took 30 years to write.

Washington was renamed from Slaughter to honor George Washington. The State Theatre is the “world’s oldest continually operating cinema theatre.” The New York Times speculated that Kalona was the center of America’s greatest concentration of organic farms clustered within a 50-mile diameter circle.

Louisa was named after Louisa Massey, famous for shooting the man who shot her brother. Or for Louisa County, Virginia depending upon how one feels about guns.   

Mills was named for a Mexican War martyr. County seat Glenwood prospered during the California Gold Rush due to the grain mill on Keg Creek, now one of Iowa’s best breweries.

Montgomery was named for a general killed in the Battle of Quebec. Red Oak spawned Joni Ernst, Johnny Carson and Fred Whipple of “Please don’t squeeze the Charmin” fame. Ernst grew up wearing newspapers, not Charmin, in her shoes.

Adams is Iowa’s least-populous county. County seat Corning once bragged about having Iowa’s widest street. Just because.

Union County seat Creston was home to annual Bluegrass Palaces made of sod and baled hay on a wood frame, holding exhibits of wood, coal, sandstone, and marble. It was the home of Harve Duncan, “the greatest auctioneer of the early 20^th century.”

Clarke was named for a Governor of the Iowa Territory. The Kickapoo artist Pahponee developed her famous white buffalo pottery while living in a teepee near Osceola, mining her clay from a riverbed, and firing it with her own buffaloes’ dung. And raising two kids without electricity or running water.

Lucas was named for an Iowa politician. Labor union firebrand John L. Lewis was born in Cleveland, a coal-mining ghost town, of Welsh parents.

Monroe was originally called Kishkekosh  after a chief of the Meskwaki but was renamed for the fifth President of the United States. Buxton became famous for its Black coal miners.

Wapello is named for a Meskwaki chief. County seat Ottumwa’s Canteen Lunch in the Alley is so beloved that the city built a parking garage around and over it.

Jefferson is home to Maharishi Vedic City, the only new town in Iowa the last 42 years. County seat Fairfield has Ayurvedic restaurants and even an Ayurvedic spa and resort.  

Henry was named for Henry Dodge, a Native American fighter and Wisconsin politician. Upset about his backed-up sewer, Ralph Orin Davis shot Mayor Edward King dead in the head at a Mount Pleasant city council meeting in 1986. That event propelled the political career of Tom Vilsack, Governor of Iowa and current head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

A newspaper in Des Moines seat Burlington coined the motto “The Hawkeye State” after the hero of James Fennimore Cooper novels. Burlington was Iowa’s steamboats and railroads center in the 19^th century.

Fremont is named for the John C. Frémont, an anti-slavery Georgian,^, Mexican and Civil War hero, explorer and Native American fighter, California Senator, and Arizona Governor who struck it rich in Gold Rush Sacramento and died destitute in New York City. Why is he not more famous? Sidney’s Iowa Championship Rodeo claims to be the world’s largest continuous outdoor rodeo.

Page is named for a Battle of Palo Alto victim. County seat Clarinda was birthplace to both writer Norman MacLean and musician Glenn Miller. It hosted the most diverse POW camp in Iowa welcoming Germans, Italians and Japanese. Later, a Japanese business tycoon built a plant in Clarinda and sponsored the Glenn Miller Festival.

Taylor is named for the “Warrior President” Zachary Taylor, who survived five wars but died 16 months into his Presidency, of ulcers: politics 1, bullets 0. County seat Bedford is located along the East Fork of the One Hundred and Two River. No other town can say that.

Ringgold is named for a hero of the Battle of Palo Alto. County seat Mount Ayr was named in honor of poet Robert Burns’ birthplace in Ayr, Scotland, for the auld lang syne.

Decatur was named for Stephen Decatur, a War of 1812 naval hero. Decatur City was renamed Leon in honor of the “Jewish Fighting Doctor” David Camden de Leon. Another Decatur City sprung up a few miles west. It is home to one of the few Valentine diners still in existence, the excellent Dinky Diner.

Wayne was named after war hero “Mad” Anthony Wayne. County seat Corydon was named after a saner county judge’s hometown in Indiana.

Appanoose was named for a Meskwaki chief and conscientious objector who sat out the war against Black Hawk, advocating peace. County seat Centerville was a coal and railroad boom town that made swashbuckler Francis Marion Drake rich before he founded Drake University and became Governor.

Davis was named in honor of a Kentucky politician. In 1924, Henry “Dare-Devil” Roland, “The Human Fly,” attempted to climb the Bloomfield courthouse and failed, breaking his hip. He returned five years later and completed the climb but died seven years afterwards in a trapeze accident. 

Van Buren is named for President Martin Van Buren, a founder of the Democrat Party. “The Honey War” between Iowa and Missouri was mostly fought in the county after Missouri tried to tax county residents and stole their honey when they refused to pay. Iowa won that war in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Lee was named for one of three different people. Obviously confused, the county has two different county seats — Fort Madison and Keokuk. ♦