Plymouth

Formed January 15, 1853 (84^th county)

Plymouth County (25,697), Le Mars (10,568)

Dark columns on the red masonry Greek Revival building were built in 1901 and remodeled in 1932.  It is situated on 4^th Avenue, 2^nd Street, 3^rd Avenue, and 1^st Street.  Iowa State Highway 3 is three blocks to the east of the courthouse.  The dome has been removed from the Kinney and Detweiler building designs.  The facility sits in a park setting and features columns.  Plymouth County was formed on January 15, 1853 and named for the Plymouth, Massachusetts colony.  The county was taken from Woodbury County as the 84^th county.  There were 1859 and 1872 courthouses previously in the county.  Melbourne was the county seat until 1872 when Le Mars became the county seat.  The county seat name was created from the first letters of women who traveled to the city’s site during its founding. 

Plymouth 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 Plymouth, Buena Vista, Cherokee, Clay, Crawford, Dickinson, Emmet, Ida, Lyon, Kossuth, Monona, O’Brien, Osceola, Palo Alto, Sioux, and Woodbury counties (judicial.) The county is in the northwest part of Iowa on the border with South Dakota.  Sioux City, Iowa is directly southwest of the county.  The county center is in Le Mars 1.8 miles Southwest of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Sioux, O’Brien, Cherokee, and Woodbury counties and South Dakota. 

The county has an area of 864 square miles.  It is 4 of 99 in the state.  It ranks 24 out of 99 in population in the state.  It has a density of 29.7 persons per square mile making it 41 out of 99 in the state.  Plymouth County has 67.5% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 75 travels north to south through the county from Sioux County to Woodbury County.  The county looks like a bag of popcorn tipped over to the west.  Le Mars is located in the northeast quarter of the county.  Le Mars is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 41.1% of the county population.