Montgomery

Formed January 15, 1851 (65^th county)

Montgomery County (10,329), Red Oak (5,594)

The tall clock tower of the 1890 dark red brick and stone Richardsonian Romanesque courthouse is unique.  The building is in a city square at Coolbaugh, 1^st, Reed, and 2^nd streets.  Iowa State Highway 48 is one block to the west of the site.  The building designer is H. C. Koch & Company.  There are beehive style corner towers on the structure.  The county was established on January 15, 1851 from Polk County as the 65^th county.  It is named after Revolutionary War General Richard Montgomery.  Frankfort was the county seat until 1865 when Red Oak assumed the position.  The county seat name is named for the numerous oaks on a local creek.  

Montgomery County government consists of a sheriff and 5 Supervisors.  Eleven District Court Judges and Sixteen Magistrates serve Montgomery, Audubon, Cass, Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Page, Pottawattamie, and Shelby counties.  The county is in the southwest part of the state.  Council Bluffs, Iowa is northwest and Des Moines, Iowa is northeast of the county.  The county center is 4.5 miles Northeast of Red Oak nearer Stennett.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Cass, Adams, Taylor, Page, Fremont, Mills, and Pottawattamie counties. 

The county has an area of 424 square miles.  It is 90 of 99 in the state.  It ranks 72 out of 99 in population in the state.  It has a density of 24.4 persons per square mile making it 57 out of 99 in the state.  Montgomery County has 76.0% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 34 crosses the county east to west from Adams County to Mills County.  United States Highway 71 goes north to south from Cass County to Page County.  The county is a rectangle.  Red Oak is in the southwest quarter of the county.  Red Oak is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 54.2% of the county population.