Adair

Formed January 15, 1851 (52^nd county)

Adair County (7,498), Greenfield (2,062)                

The dark red brick courthouse was built in 1891 and sits on a city square where Iowa and 1^st streets come together.  Iowa State Highway 92 is two blocks south of the site.  S. E. Maxon is the architect for this Romanesque building.  The grounds feature veteran memorials.  The county was organized on January 15, 1851 from Pottawattamie County as the 52^nd county.  Fontanelle (1856) and Greenfield (1874) have served as the county seat.  War of 1812 General John Adair provided the name for the county.  The county seat name is for the local green fields.  Adair County was the birthplace of 1 Iowa Governor, D. Turner. 

Adair County government consists of a sheriff and 5 Supervisors.  Fifty-nine District Court Judges and Twenty-one Magistrates serve Adair, Adams, Clarke, Dallas, Decatur, Guthrie, Jasper, Lucas, Madison, Marion, Polk, Ringgold, Taylor, Union, Warren, and Wayne counties.  The county is in southwest Iowa to the southwest of Des Moines, Iowa and east of Council Bluffs, Iowa.  The county center is 3.3 miles North of Greenfield.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Guthrie, Madison, Union, Adams, and Cass counties. 

The county has an area of 569 square miles.  It is 50 of 99 in the state.  It ranks 88 out of 99 in population in the state.  It has a density of 13.2 persons per square mile making it 91 out of 99 in the state.  Adair County has 63.6% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 80 crosses the extreme northern part of the county east to west from Madison County to Cass County.  United States Highway 6 is combined with Interstate Highway 80 from Madison to Cass counties.  The county is a rectangle.  Greenfield is located in the southern third of the county.  Greenfield is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 27.5% of the county population.

Stuart