Fremont

Formed December 24, 1847 (50^th county)

Fremont County (6,602), Sidney (1,067)                

A reddish/tan brick facility sits in a square at Fillmore, Illinois, Clay, and Indiana streets.  United States Highway 275 is Illinois Street.  The 1889 courthouse for Fremont County had to have predecessors since the county was created on December 24, 1847 from Pottawattamie County as the 50^th county.  Austin (1850) and Sidney (1851) have both been the county seat.  S. E. Maxon designed the courthouse in Early American and Romanesque style.  The building features a tower and the grounds have memorials.  Fremont County is named for explorer and statesman John C. Fremont.  The county seat is named for Sidney, Ohio. 

Fremont County government consists of a sheriff, a recorder, an attorney, a treasurer, and an assessor (executive).  It has 3 Supervisors (legislative.)  Eleven District Court Judges and Sixteen Magistrates serve Fremont, Audubon, Cass, Harrison, Mills, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie, and Shelby counties (judicial.) The county is in the southwest corner of the state bordering both Nebraska and Missouri.  Council Bluffs, Iowa is north of the county.  The county center is in Sidney .6 miles Southeast of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Mills, Montgomery, and Page counties and Missouri and Nebraska. 

The county has an area of 511 square miles.  It is 68 of 99 in the state.  It ranks 93 out of 99 in population in the state.  It has a density of 12.9 persons per square mile making it 92 out of 99 in the state.  Fremont County has 60.9% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 29 goes north to south through the county from Mills County to Missouri.  United States Highway 275 parallels Interstate Highway 29 from Mills County to Missouri.  The county looks like a bag of popcorn tipped over to the west.  Sidney is west of center in the county.  Hamburg is located near the southern border.  Sidney is the county seat and largest city.  Sidney is 16.2% of the county population.