Saturday, May 25, 2013

Muscatine County


Muscatine County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa.  The county seat is Muscatine. The southeastern border is formed by the Mississippi River.

Muscatine County was formed on December 7, 1836. One history of the county claims it was named for Muscatine Island in the Mississippi River. The island lies opposite Muscatine County and was believed to be named after the Mascouten native American tribe, Algonquian-speaking Native Americans who lived in the area before being driven west by settler encroachment and other tribes.
Muscatine County Courthouse in Muscatine - Wikiphoto
In 1833, Colonel George Davenport of Illinois sent three representatives into the territory to establish a trade post. They were the first European Americans to settle there. In the same year, James W. Casey and John Vanatta came to the area. They opened a supply depot for steamboats on June 1, 1833, and named it Casey’s Woodpile. (The steamboats burned wood.) The first public land sale was held in November 1838. One year later, the construction of the courthouse and a jail was begun. A second jail, referred to as the "Old Jail", was built in 1857
On December 23, 1864, the courthouse was complete gutted by a fire and, within two years, a new structure was completed on the same site. The construction of the courthouse still used today was completed on September 26, 1907


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