History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/3/Counties/Palo Alto
PALO ALTO COUNTY lies in the second tier south of Minnesota and in the fourth east of the west line of the State. It is twenty-four miles square, containing five hundred seventy-six square miles. The county was created in 1851 and named for the Battle of Palo Alto, the first fought in the Mexican War. The west fork of the Des Moines River flows through it in a southeasterly direction and the broad valley is of unsurpassed fertility. Among the beautiful sheets of water in the county are Medium Lake, Lost Island Lake, Silver Lake, Rush Lake and Elbow Lake. There were originally about 2,000 acres of native timber in the county, mostly lying along the Des Moines River.
The first settlers were members of an Irish colony who, in July, 1856, made claims in the vicinity of Medium Lake where they built cabins and opened farms. Among them were John and James Nolan, John Neary, Martin Laughlin, Edward Mahan, Thomas Downey, Jeremiah Evans, R. F. and William Carter, John McCormack, R. Shippey and others, nearly all of whom had families. They came from Kane County, Illinois, and engaged extensively in stock raising.
The county was organized on the 20th of December at an election held at the cabin of James Nolan where the following officers were chosen: James Hickey, judge; John W. Mulroney, treasurer; Thomas H. Tobin, sheriff. Paoli, the first county-seat, is situated on the east bank of the Des Moines River near the center of the county. Here the first court-house was built about two miles from the south end of Medium Lake.
Emmetsburg was laid out by Martin Coonan at the south end of Medium Lake but for a long time was a town in name only, though it finally became the county-seat. Most of the early settlers were Catholics and their first religious services were held in the cabin of James Downey, July, 1857. In 1869 James P. White established the first newspaper at Emmetsburg called the Palo Alto Democrat. In 1871 the proprietor of Emmetsburg replatted the town in anticipation of the Milwaukee Railroad which was located through the county-seat.