Muscatine

Formed December 7, 1836 (6^th county)

Muscatine County (43,242), Muscatine (23,799)

The tower of the 1907 masonry building can be seen from the river.  It is surrounded on a square by 3^rd, Walnut, 4^th, and Mulberry streets.  United States Highway 61 Business is two blocks to the southeast.  J. E. Mills provided the designs for this Classical Revival courthouse.  The tower has a working clock and the grounds feature memorial walls.  Muscatine, the only county seat, also was the home of 1839 and 1867 courthouses.  A County Administration building has been added.  The county was established on December 7, 1836 from Des Moines County as the 6^th county.  It is named for Muscatine Island which is named for the Native American tribe.  The county seat shares the same source. 

Muscatine County government consists of a sheriff and 5 Supervisors.  Seventeen District Court Judges and Fifteen Magistrates serve Muscatine, Cedar, Clinton, Jackson, and Scott counties.  The county is on the Mississippi River border with Illinois.  Davenport, Iowa is directly east and Cedar Rapids, Iowa is north of the county.  The county center is 9.1 miles Northwest of Muscatine.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Cedar and Scott counties and Illinois and Louisa and Johnson counties. 

The county has an area of 439 square miles.  It is 79 of 99 in the state.  It ranks 13 out of 99 in population in the state.  It has a density of 98.5 persons per square mile making it 10 out of 99 in the state.  Muscatine County has 76.1% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 6 enters the county from the north, Cedar County, and turns west into Johnson County.  United States Highway 61 travels northeast to south from Scott County to Louisa County.  The county is a rectangle with the southeast corner bitten away.  The City of Muscatine is in the southeast quarter on the Mississippi River.  Muscatine is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 55.0% of the county population.  The county and county seat are pronounced MUS-KA-TEEN.  This county is in the Muscatine Micropolitan Statistical Area.