Power

Formed January 30, 1913 (31^st county)

Power County (7,874), American Falls (4,561)

A red brick Prairie School and Neo-Classical Revival structure is the courthouse for Power County.  It is located on Bannock Avenue at Idaho Street.  Interstate Highway 86 Business is one block northeast.  The facility was built in 1926 using the designs of C. A. Sundberg.  The county was created on January 30, 1913 from Cassia County as the 31^st county with American Falls as the only county seat.  The county is named for the power plant on the Snake River.  The county seat is named for local falls on the Snake River. 

Power County government consists of a sheriff, a prosecuter, a coroner, a clerk, a treasurer, and an assessor (executive).  It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.)  Three Circuit Court Judges and a Magistrate Court Judge serve Power, Bannock, Bear Lake, Caribou, Franklin, and Oneida counties (judicial.) The county is in southeast Idaho obviously on the Snake River.  Pocatello, Idaho is immediately northeast and Twin Falls, Idaho is west of the county.  The county center is 7.5 miles East-Southeast of American Falls.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Bingham, Bannock, Oneida, Cassia, and Blaine counties. 

The area of the county is 1406 square miles.  It is 21 out of 44 in the state.  It ranks 33 out of 44 in population in the state.  It has a density of 5.6 persons per square mile making it 29 out of 44 in the state.  Power County has 61.0% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 86 crosses east to west in the county from Bannock County to Cassia County.  United States Highway 30 is joined with Interstate Highway 86 from Bannock to Cassia counties.  The county’s shape looks like a pistol pointing north.  American Falls is located in the northern third of the county.  American Falls is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 57.9% of the county population.  This county is in the Pocatello Metropolitan Statistical Area.