Idaho County

Formed February 4, 1864 (4^th county)

Idaho County (16,542), Grangeville (3,319)

A Modern style structure made of masonry and tan brick is the appearance of the courthouse.  The current courthouse was built in 1954 to replace a 1902 structure.  It is on West Main Street between College Street and Idaho Avenue.  Idaho State Highway 13 is Main Street through Grangeville.  Whitehouse & Price and Associates are the architects.  Veteran memorials are on the grounds.  The county was created on February 4, 1864 as the 4^th county.  Florence (1864), Mount Idaho (1875), and Grangeville (1902) have served as county seats.  The county name comes from a steamboat on the Columbia River.  Grangeville is named for the community being founded around the Grange Hall. 

Idaho County government consists of a sheriff, a prosecuter, a coroner, a clerk, a treasurer, and an assessor (executive).  It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.)  Six Circuit Court Judges and a Magistrate Court Judge serve Idaho, Clearwater, Latah, Lewis, and Nez Perce counties (judicial.) The county crosses the entire Idaho panhandle east to west.  It borders both Montana and Oregon.  The Snake River forms its western border.  The county center is 33.2 miles East of Grangeville nearer Clearwater.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Clearwater County and Montana and Lemhi, Valley, and Adams counties and Oregon and Nez Perce and Lewis counties. 

The area of the county is 8485 square miles.  It is 1 out of 44 in the state.  It ranks 20 out of 44 in population in the state.  It has a density of 2.0 persons per square mile making it 38 out of 44 in the state.  Idaho County has 31.7% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 12 enters the county from the east, Montana, and exits north, Lewis County.  United States Highway 95 goes north to south through the county from Lewis County to Adams County.  There are a number of jagged lines for this county but the overall shape looks like a fan.  Grangeville is in the northwest quarter of the county.  Grangeville is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 20.1% of the county population.