Emmet

Formed December 15, 1857 (98^th county)

Emmet County (9,383), Estherville (5,898)                

The tan brick and concrete Modern courthouse was constructed in 1957 to replace an 1884 courthouse.  It is at 1^st Avenue, 6^th Street, 2^nd Avenue, and 7^th Street.  Iowa State Highway 9 is one block south of the site.  James A. Dougher provided the designs.  The facility has columns and the grounds have veteran memorials.  The county was founded on December 15, 1857 from parts of Dickinson and Kossuth counties as the 98^th county.  Estherville (1851), Swan Lake (1879), and Estherville (1884) have been the county seats.  The county is named for Irish patriot Robert Emmet.  He is also the namesake for the county seat of Palo Alto County. 

Emmet County government consists of a sheriff, a recorder, an attorney, a treasurer, and an assessor (executive).  It has 5 Supervisors (legislative.)  Twenty District Court Judges and Fourteen Magistrates serve Emmet, Buena Vista, Cherokee, Clay, Crawford, Dickinson, Ida, Lyon, Kossuth, Monona, O’Brien, Osceola, Palo Alto, Plymouth, Sioux, and Woodbury counties (judicial.) The county is located in north central Iowa on the Minnesota border.  Des Moines, Iowa is southeast and Sioux City, Iowa is southwest of the county.  The county center is 11.1 miles Southeast of Estherville nearer Gruver.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Minnesota and Kossuth, Palo Alto, and Dickinson counties. 

The county has an area of 396 square miles.  It is 98 of 99 in the state.  It ranks 80 out of 99 in population in the state.  It has a density of 23.7 persons per square mile making it 60 out of 99 in the state.  Emmet County has 86.0% of its population in its incorporated areas.  There are no Interstate or United States Highways in the county.  The county seat is named for Esther Ridley, wife of one of the city founders.  The county is a rectangle with Estherville in the western quarter.  Estherville is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 62.9% of the county population.