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Adair County, Iowa - one of four Adairs in the US

We wonder if families from Adair County, KY went west and named their new home for the one they left? That theory would have to be worked out by historians like Mike Watson and Vonnie Kolbenschlag, however, we can visit and share that there are four counties by our same name in the US.

The state of Iowa - where this "other Adair County" feature is located - was surveyed and laid out in counties in 1851. Land offices had been established as early as 1838, and land sold for $1.25 per acre. The money was used by the Government to defray the costs of the War of 1812. With the advent of the railroads land went up to $2.50 per acre.

Like ours, the Iowa county was called Adair in honor of General John Adair, an officer in the War of 1812, and sixth governor of Kentucky.



The county seat was named Summerset, now Fontanelle. The first court was held in the house of Judge J. J. Leeper.

At a session of the Court on July 7, 1856, it was ordered that a court house be built 26x36 feet and 10 feet high, to contain three rooms, "all to be finished in good style."

Immediately after the 1883 fire another courthouse was built. It was poorly constructed and only of temporary nature at best.

It was not nearly as good as the one destroyed by the fire and was known by the name of "sheep shed." In 1891 the present courthouse was built.

(From information booklets shared with Ed Waggener in 1987 by Edwin J. Sidney, publisher, Adair County Free Press, Greenfield, Iowa.)


This story was posted on 2022-08-01 09:55:25
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The historic Adair County courthouse - in Iowa



2022-08-01 - Adair County, Iowa - Photo by Pen Waggener.
At a session of the Adair County Iowa Court on July 7, 1856, it was ordered that a court house be built 26x36 feet and 10 feet high, to contain three rooms, "all to be finished in good style." Immediately after the 1883 fire another courthouse was built. It was poorly constructed and only of temporary nature at best. It was not nearly as good as the one destroyed by the fire and was known by the name of "sheep shed." In 1891 the present courthouse was built.

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