Buchanan

Formed December 21, 1837 (8^th county)

Buchanan County (20,565), Independence (6,064)

The Art Deco masonry facility, at 5^th Avenue, 2^nd Street, 6^th Avenue, and 3^rd Street, was built in 1939.  5^th Avenue is Iowa State Highway 150 in Independence.  The designers were Dougher, Rich and Woodburn.  The grounds feature a Statue of Liberty replica.  An earlier courthouse was built in 1881 also in Independence, the only county seat.  The county was founded on December 21, 1837 as the 8^th county.  It was formed from Dubuque County.  United States President James Buchanan inspired the name for the county.  The county seat is named for Independence Day, the day the city was founded. 

Buchanan County government consists of a sheriff, a recorder, an attorney, a treasurer, and an assessor (executive).  It has 3 Supervisors (legislative.)  Twenty-seven District Court Judges and Sixteen Magistrates serve Buchanan, Allamakee, Black Hawk, Chickasaw, Clayton, Delaware, Dubuque, Fayette, Grundy, Howard, and Winneshiek counties (judicial.) The county is situated in eastern Iowa.  Waterloo, Iowa is directly west.  The county center is 2 miles Northeast of Independence.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Fayette, Clayton, Delaware, Linn, Benton, Black Hawk, and Bremer counties. 

The county has an area of 571 square miles.  It is 45 of 99 in the state.  It ranks 32 out of 99 in population in the state.  It has a density of 36.0 persons per square mile making it 31 out of 99 in the state.  Buchanan County has 60.9% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 380 clips the southwest corner of the county from Black Hawk County, west, to Linn County, south.  United States Highway 20 crosses east to west from Delaware County to Black Hawk County.  The county is overall rectangular.  Independence is located in the western third of the county.  Independence is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 29.5% of the county population.