Kossuth County is a county located in the state of Iowa. Based on the 2010 census, the population was 15,543. Kossuth County was created on January 15, 1851. The county seat is Algona. The county is named in honor of Lajos Kossuth, (1802–1894), Hungarian revolutionary who was inspired by American democratic ideals.
Kossuth county is named for Lajos Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot.
County QuickFacts: CensusBureau Quick Facts
Kossuth is the largest county in Iowa
in area and was named for the Hungarian patriot, Lajos Kossuth. Kossuth County
was established in 1851 and originated in 1855. The first supervisors took
office in 1861. There were three supervisors, one for each township in county at
the time. In 1872, the county voted in favor of having a board of five
supervisors, two to be elected at large. The present districting system was set
up in 1900.
The present boundaries of the county were fixed by the legislature in 1857 by
blotting Bancroft County out of existence and adding it to Kossuth County. In
1870, Crocker County was created on the ruins of old Bancroft County, but the
Act was declared unconstitutional because the county did not contain 432 miles.
Thus Crocker County passed out of existence, and its 12 townships were added to
Kossuth County, reducing from 100 to 99 the number of counties in Iowa.
Until 1866, officials had only temporary quarters. The supervisors met in the
county judge's office, and the treasurer and recorder were housed in a log
addition to the old St. Nicholas hotel. Records were kept at home, or anywhere
that was convenient.
The original courthouse was built in 1867 where the old jail is now located. A
vote in 1871 approved construction of a new courthouse, which was built the next
year. This courthouse served the county until 1953.
After getting approval for a new courthouse in 1947, thrifty supervisors decided
to wait until the cost of material decreased before building. The Board invested
the bonds in interest-bearing US war bonds and earned more than $43,000 by the
time the new courthouse had been completed in 1955, for a total cost of
$520,605.
All of Kossuth County was included in the Sioux Indian claim against the US
government in connection with about 29 million acres of land ceded by Sioux
treaties from 1805 to 1858. Settlement of the claims was reached during the
summer of 1967, after 160 years of litigation.
Kossuth County boards have been continually plagued by water problems. On the
flat land left by the glaciers there was little runoff. In the spring, large
areas of the county were flooded. In the early days, there were many elections
on whether and where to build bridges. The votes usually carried, and the county
ran heavily in debt. As the years passed, the county established drainage
districts to solve the flooding problem.
There have been several attempts to divide the county, but none ever succeeded,
and Kossuth is still the largest county in area in the state.
Source: Karen Benschoter, Kossuth County Recorder, 2002
As reported by the Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 974 square miles (2,520 km2), of which 973 square miles (2,520 km2) is land and 1.6 square miles (4.1 km2) (0.2%) is water.
Kossuth county is located in northwest Iowa. This is the largest county by area in Iowa.
Union Slough National Wildlife Refuge is located in this county.
Bordering counties are as follows: