Greene County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2010 census, the population was 9,336. The county seat is Jefferson. The county is named in honor of General Nathanael Greene.

History

Greene County was formed on January 15, 1851 and from 1854, self-governed. It was named after General Nathanael Greene, a hero in the Revolutionary War. The first settler was Truman Davis. He settled on the Raccoon River.

The first courthouse was built in 1856 from wood. Previously court was held in a log cabin southeast of Jefferson. The second courthouse, of red brick, was built in 1870. The present Greene County Courthouse used today was built in 1917.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 571 square miles (1,480 km²), of which 570 square miles (1,500 km²) is land and 1.6 square miles (4.1 km²) (0.3%) is water.

Major highways

U.S. Route 30

Iowa Highway 4

Iowa Highway 25

Iowa Highway 144

Adjacent counties

Greene County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 49,221. Its county seat is Catskill. The county's name is in honor of the American Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene.

History

On March 25, 1800, Greene County was created by the partitioning of Albany (360 Square Miles) and Ulster (270 Square Miles) counties, producing a county of 620 square miles (1,600 km²).

On April 3, 1801, 90 square miles (230 km²) of land was transferred from Delaware and Ulster counties, raising the total area to 710 square miles (1,800 km²). This transferred Prattsville, Vly Mountain, Halcott Center, Bushnellsville, Highmount, Shandaken, Lanesville, and Pine Hill within Greene County.

On May 26, 1812, Greene County lost 20 square miles (52 km²) to Ulster County, lowering the total area to 690 square miles (1,800 km²), reassigning Pine Hill, Highmount, and Shandaken to Ulster County.

On April 15, 1814, the county borders were re-surveyed, and the line adjusted with no change in area.

Iowa (ⁱ/ˈaɪ.əwə/) is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States, bordered by the Mississippi River on the east and the Missouri River and the Big Sioux River on the west, by Wisconsin and Illinois to the east, Missouri to the south, Nebraska and South Dakota to the west, and Minnesota to the north.

In colonial times, Iowa was a part of French Louisiana and Spanish Louisiana; its state flag is patterned after the flag of France. After the Louisiana Purchase, settlers laid the foundation for an agriculture-based economy in the heart of the Corn Belt.

In the latter half of the 20th century, Iowa's agricultural economy made the transition to a diversified economy of advanced manufacturing, processing, financial services, information technology, biotechnology, and green energy production. Iowa is the 26th most extensive in land area and the 30th most populous of the 50 United States. Its capital and largest city is Des Moines. Iowa has been listed as one of the safest states in which to live. Its nickname is the Hawkeye State.

The Iowa (also spelled Ioway), also known as the Báxoǰe, are a Native American Siouan people. Today they are enrolled in either of two federally recognized tribes, the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma and the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska.

With the Missouria and the Otoe, the Ioway are the Chiwere-speaking peoples, claiming the Ho-Chunks as their "grandfathers." Their estimated population of 1,100 (in 1760) dropped to 800 (in 1804), a decrease caused mainly by smallpox, to which they had no natural immunity.

In 1837, the Iowa were moved from Iowa to reservations in Brown County, Kansas, and Richardson County, Nebraska. Bands of Iowa moved to Indian Territory in the late 19th century and settled south of Perkins, Oklahoma, becoming the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma.

Name

Their name has been said to come from ayuhwa ("asleep"). Early European explorers often adopted the names of tribes from the ethnonyms which other tribes gave them, not understanding that these differed from what the peoples called themselves. Thus, ayuhwa is not an Ioway word. The word Ioway comes from Dakotan ayuxbe via French aiouez. Their autonym (their name for themselves) is Báxoje, pronounced [b̥aꜜxodʒɛ] (alternate spellings: pahotcha, pahucha,), which translates to "grey snow". Báxoje has been incorrectly translated as "dusted faces" or "dusty nose", since the Ioway words use different consonants.

The Steamboat Iowa was revered as one of the largest and fastest boats on the Mississippi in the mid 19th century; it is incorporated into the official Seal of Iowa. Built in 1838, the Iowa was the first vessel named for the newly formed Territory of Iowa. It weighed 112 tons, could pull 10 keelboats, and it set the speed record from Galena, Illinois to St. Louis in 1843, making the trip in 44 hours, a record that held until 1849. The Iowa was hired by Mormon supporters of Joseph Smith, Jr. as part of a plan to rescue him from jail in June 1843; the excursion was cancelled after Smith was murdered in jail. The Iowa sunk after a collision with the steamboat Declaration on Oct. 1, 1847 while traveling from New Orleans to St. Louis. This liability for this collision was ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court case John Walsh v. Patrick Rogers (54 U.S. 283- 1852). However, the Iowa was apparently rebuilt, or a new steamboat was later rechristened Iowa, since similar side-wheeler appeared twice in Barber and Howe's 1865 Loyal West in the Time of Rebellion, and there is reference to the Iowa being used as a troop transport during the Civil War.