Iowa County

Formed February 17, 1843 (25^th county)

Iowa County (16,663), Marengo (2,439), Williamsburg (3,349)                

A stone courthouse was built in 1892 and sits on a square on Court, Marion, Franklin, and Hilton streets.  United States Highway 6 is 10 blocks southwest of the site.  Foster and Liebbe provided the designs for this Romanesque courthouse.  The building features a tower and wooden stairs and the grounds have memorials.  An Annex is across the street.  Iowa County was established on February 17, 1843 from Washington County as the 25^th county with Marengo as the only county seat.  It is named for the Iowa River which flows through the county.  The county seat is named after the Battle of Marengo where Napoleon was successful over the Austrians. 

Iowa County government consists of a sheriff, a recorder, an attorney, a treasurer, and an assessor (executive).  It has 5 Supervisors (legislative.)  Twenty-six District Court Judges and Seventeen Magistrates serve Iowa, Benton, Johnson, Jones, Linn, and Tama counties (judicial.) Iowa County is in eastern Iowa directly southwest of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  The county center is 9.3 miles South of Marengo nearer Williamsburg.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Benton, Linn, Johnson, Washington, Keokuk, Poweshiek, and Tama counties. 

The county has an area of 586 square miles.  It is 26 of 99 in the state.  It ranks 44 out of 99 in population in the state.  It has a density of 28.4 persons per square mile making it 48 out of 99 in the state.  Iowa County has 49.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 80 crosses east to west in the county from Johnson County to Poweshiek County.  United States Highway 6 parallels Interstate Highway 80 from Johnson to Poweshiek counties.  United States Highway 151 enters from the northeast, Benton County, and terminates.  The county is a rectangle.  Marengo is in the northern quarter of the county.  The largest city is located slightly east of center in the county.  Marengo is the county seat and Williamsburg is the largest city.  Marengo is 14.6% of the county population while Williamsburg is 20.1% of the county population.

Victor