Iron

Formed January 31, 1850 (1^st county)

Iron County (57,285), Parowan (2,999), Cedar City (35,240)

The brown brick Modern building replaced a wooden courthouse.  It was erected in 1974.  John S. Rowley was the architect.  The structure is located on 100 East Street between Center and 100 South streets.  Interstate Highway 15 Business is one block to the west.  A Forestry building was remodeled to become the Justice Center and there is also an augmenting Courthouse both in Cedar City.  The county was created on January 31, 1850 as an original county (1^st county) with Parowan as the only county seat.  Iron County is named for the local mines.  The county seat name is Native American for “bad water.”  Iron County is the birthplace of 1 Utah Governor, Michael O. Leavitt. 

Iron County government consists of a sheriff and 3 Commissioners.  Seven District Court Judges and Three Juvenile Court Judges serve Iron, Beaver, and Washington counties.  The county is located on the southwest border with Nevada.  Salt Lake City, Utah is northeast and Las Vegas, Nevada is southwest of the county.  The county center is 23.1 miles South-Southwest of Parowan nearer Pintura.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Beaver, Garfield, Kane, and Washington counties and Nevada. 

The area of the county is 3297 square miles.  It is 11 out of 29 in the state.  It ranks 9 out of 29 in population in the state.  It has a density of 17.4 persons per square mile making it 11 out of 29 in the state.  Iron County has 81.6% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 15 travels north to south through the county from Beaver County to Washington County.  The county is shaped like a small letter r lying on its face.  Parowan is located in the eastern quarter of the county.  Cedar City is in the southeast quarter of the county.  Parowan is the county seat and Cedar City is the largest city.  Parowan is 5.2% of the county population while Cedar City is 61.5% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced PAR-O-WAN.  This county is in the Cedar City Micropolitan Statistical Area.