Knox

Formed February 1, 1857 (28^th county)

Knox County (8,405), Center (77), Creighton (1,150)                

A brown brick courthouse serves Knox County.  The 1934 facility replaced a basic 1909 wooden courthouse.  Oliver Prosser provided the Art Deco and Federalist designs.  The county was created on February 1, 1857 from parts of Pierce County and Native American Territory as the 28^th county.  The courthouse is on Main Street between Bridge and Bazile streets.  Nebraska State Highway 84 is Main Street in this small town.  A Courthouse Annex was added in 2014.  Veteran memorials are on the grounds.  Niobrara was the first county seat until 1902 when Center assumed the position.  The county is named for United States Secretary of War Henry Knox.  Center is a geographical description of its location in the county. 

Knox County government consists of a sheriff, an attorney, a treasurer and a clerk (executive).  It has 7 Commissioners (legislative.)  Two District Court Judges and Three County Court Judges serve Knox, Antelope, Cuming, Madison, Pierce, Stanton and Wayne counties (judicial.)  Knox County is located on the northeast border with South Dakota.  Sioux City, Iowa is east and Omaha, Nebraska is southeast of the county.  The county center is 5.1 miles North of Center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by South Dakota and Cedar, Pierce, Antelope, Holt, and Boyd counties. 

The area of the county is 1108 square miles.  It is 12 out of 93 in the state.  It ranks 32 out of 93 in population in the state.  It has a density of 7.6 persons per square mile making it 51 out of 93 in the state.  Knox County has 59.6% of its population in its incorporated areas.  The county looks like a bowl of ice cream with a scoop taken out.  There are no Interstate or United States Highways in the county.  Center is slightly south of center in the county.  Creighton is on the southern border of the county.  Center is the county seat and Creighton is the largest city.  Center is 0.9% of the county population while Creighton is 13.7% of the county population.  The largest city is pronounced KRAE-TON.