Woodbury

Formed December 31, 1851 (78^th county)

Woodbury County (105,944), Sioux City (85,781)                

The Classical Revival governmental courthouse was built in 1918 to replace a nice 1878 building.  The tan brick and concrete structure sits at Douglas, 6^th, Pierce, and 7^th streets.  Interstate Highway 29 is five blocks south of the courthouse.  Steele, Purcell, and Elmslie were the courthouse designers.  The building features carvings on the front of the structure.  Thomasville and Sergeant Bluff preceded Sioux City as county seats following the December 31, 1851 formation.  The county was taken from Polk County as the 78^th county.  The county was originally called Wahkaw.  It was renamed the honor United States Supreme Court Justice Levi Woodbury.  The county seat is named for the Native American tribe.  They are also the source for Sioux County. 

Woodbury County government consists of a sheriff and 5 Supervisors.  Twenty District Court Judges and Fourteen Magistrates serve Woodbury, Buena Vista, Cherokee, Clay, Crawford, Dickinson, Emmet, Ida, Lyon, Kossuth, Monona, O’Brien, Osceola, Palo Alto, Plymouth, and Sioux counties.  Woodbury County is in the northwest part of the state bordering both South Dakota and Nebraska.  The Missouri River forms most of its western border.  The county center is 27.6 miles Southeast of Sioux City nearer Oto.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Plymouth, Cherokee, Ida, Crawford, and Monona counties and Nebraska and South Dakota. 

The county has an area of 873 square miles.  It is 3 of 99 in the state.  It ranks 6 out of 99 in population in the state.  It has a density of 121.4 persons per square mile making it 9 out of 99 in the state.  Woodbury County has 92.3% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 29 enters the county from South Dakota, west, and exits into Monona County, south.  United States Highway 20 goes east to west from Ida County to Nebraska.  United States Highway 75 travels north to south from Plymouth County to Nebraska.  The county resembles an old school desk.  Sioux City dominates the northwest corner of the county and extends into Plymouth County.  Sioux City is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 81.0% of the county population.  This county is in the Sioux City Metropolitan Statistical Area.