Buena Vista

Formed January 15, 1853 (79^th county)

Buena Vista County (20,830), Storm Lake (10,600)

The Modern building was built in 1969.  The concrete facility is at 5^th, Cayuga, 6^th, and Erie streets.  Iowa State Highway 7 is three blocks north of the location.  Frevert-Ramsey provided the designs.  The grounds feature veteran memorials and a wildlife display dominates the inside entrance area.  A classier courthouse was erected in 1888.  Sioux Rapids (1851) and Storm Lake (1878) have both served as county seat.  The county was established on January 15, 1853 from parts of Clay and Sac counties as the 79^th county.  The county is named for the Mexican War battle.  The county seat is a geographical term for the local lake where a trapper experienced a severe storm. 

Buena Vista County government consists of a sheriff and 5 Supervisors.  Twenty District Court Judges and Fourteen Magistrates serve Buena Vista, Cherokee, Clay, Crawford, Dickinson, Emmet, Ida, Lyon, Kossuth, Monona, O’Brien, Osceola, Palo Alto, Plymouth, Sioux, and Woodbury counties.  The county is in northwest Iowa.  Sioux City, Iowa is southwest and Des Moines, Iowa is southeast of the county.  The county center is 5.2 miles Northeast of Storm Lake.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Clay, Pocahontas, Sac, and Cherokee counties. 

The county has an area of 575 square miles.  It is 38 of 99 in the state.  It ranks 29 out of 99 in population in the state.  It has a density of 36.2 persons per square mile making it 30 out of 99 in the state.  Buena Vista County has 81.9% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 71 crosses north to south through the county from Clay County to Sac County.  The county is a square with Storm Lake in the southwest quarter of the county.  Storm Lake is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 54.1% of the county population.  This county is in the Storm Lake Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Truesdale