Clinton

Formed December 21, 1837 (12^th county)

Clinton County (46,470), Clinton (24,467)                

The classic red stone Romanesque courthouse was built in 1897.  It is on 2^nd Street between 6^th and 7^th avenues.  2^nd Street is United States Highway 67 in Clinton.  G. S. Mansfield was the building designer.  The building features a green tower with a working clock and a second-floor balcony.  The grounds have memorial walls and military guns.  There have been three courthouses in the county since the December 21, 1837 founding.  Camache (1840), Vanderburg (1840), and Clinton (1869) have all served as county seat.  The county was taken from parts of Dubuque County and Native American Territory as the 12^th county.  The county and county seat are named for New York Governor DeWitt Clinton. 

Clinton County government consists of a sheriff, a recorder, an attorney, a treasurer, and an assessor (executive).  It has 3 Supervisors (legislative.)  Seventeen District Court Judges and Fifteen Magistrates serve Clinton, Cedar, Jackson, Muscatine, and Scott counties (judicial.) The county is on the east central border with Illinois.  The Mississippi River forms its eastern border.  Davenport, Iowa is immediately south of the county.  The county center is 21.5 miles West-Northwest of Clinton nearer DeWitt.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Jackson County and Illinois and Scott, Cedar, and Jones counties. 

The county has an area of 695 square miles.  It is 15 of 99 in the state.  It ranks 12 out of 99 in population in the state.  It has a density of 66.9 persons per square mile making it 17 out of 99 in the state.  Clinton County has 82.9% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 30 travels east to west in the county from Illinois to Cedar County.  United States Highway 61 goes north to south from Jackson County to Scott County.  United States Highway 67 follows the Mississippi River north to south from Jackson County to Scott County.  The county looks like a school bus facing east.  The City of Clinton is in the southeast on the Mississippi River.  Clinton is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 52.7% of the county population.  This county is in the Clinton Micropolitan Statistical Area.