History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/3/Counties/Ida
IDA COUNTY lies in the second tier east of the Missouri River and in the fourth south of the Minnesota line. It was created in 1851, containing twelve townships, making an area of four hundred thirty-three square miles. The name was suggested by Eliphalet Price. The Maple River flows through the county from northeast to southwest affording water power.
In 1854 Robert Townsley, Edward Smith and Samuel King took claims in the county, opened farms and built log cabins. In 1856 J. H. Morehead and E. Comstock and families settled at Ida Grove on the Maple River. For many years this was an important station on the stage line between Fort Dodge and Sioux City, remote from other settlements. On one of the high ridges near the station in early days there was an Indian village the remains of which were visible for many years after the first white settlements.
In 1858 the county was organized and the following officers were chosen: J. H. Morehead, judge; J. S. Loveland, recorder and treasurer; and Bushrod Warren, clerk. The county-seat was located at Ida Grove where a town was laid out by S. H. Hobbs in 1871. The first school was taught at Ida Grove by Miss Atwood and the first term of court was held there by Judge A. W. Hubbard in 1857. W. P. Evans established the first newspaper in the county at Ida Grove in March, 1872, which was named the Ida County Pioneer. J. H. Morehead was the first postmaster in the county serving from 1860 to 1872 at Ida Grove. The old town of Ida Grove was on the north side of the river near the junction of the Odebolt and the Maple. When the Northwestern Railroad was built in 1877, a new town was laid out on the south side of the Odebolt which also took the name of Ida Grove and became the county-seat. In 1877 the Blair Company laid out the town of Battle Creek on the Maple Valley branch of the Northwestern road.