Minidoka

Formed January 28, 1913 (30^th county)

Minidoka County (21,582), Rupert (6,081)

A tan brick Neo-Classical Revival courthouse serves Minidoka County.  The facility was built in 1917 on G Street between 7^th and 8^th streets.  Idaho State Highway 24 is six blocks east of the location.  L. M. Gates provided for the courthouse designs.  A Judicial Building was added in 1975.  Minidoka County was formed on January 28, 1913 from Lincoln County as the 30^th county with Rupert as the only county seat.  Minidoka is a Native American term meaning “spring of water.”  Two sources exist for the county seat name.  One says it is named for a mining engineer and the other says a postal officer. 

Minidoka 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 Minidoka, Blaine, Camas, Cassia, Gooding, Jerome, Lincoln, and Twin Falls counties (judicial.) The county is in southern Idaho.  The Snake River forms its southern border.  Pocatello, Idaho is east and Twin Falls, Idaho is west of the county.  The county center is 17.9 miles North-Northeast of Rupert nearer Minidoka.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Blaine, Cassia, Jerome, and Lincoln counties. 

The area of the county is 760 square miles.  It is 35 out of 44 in the state.  It ranks 18 out of 44 in population in the state.  It has a density of 28.4 persons per square mile making it 13 out of 44 in the state.  Minidoka County has 53.4% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 84 crosses the southern tip of the county east to west from Cassia County to Jerome County.  United States Highway 30 enters the county joined with Interstate Highway 84 from Cassia County, splits, and heads south back into Cassia County.  The county is shaped like the capital letter J.  Rupert is in the southern quarter of the county.  Rupert is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 28.2% of the county population.  The county is pronounced MIN-EE-DOE-KA.  The county seat is pronounced RUE-PERT.  This county is in the Burley Micropolitan Statistical Area.