HISTORY OF CEDAR COUNTY

Cedar County was organized in 1838, and named after the river flowing through it. The area was inhabited by the Fox Indians, whose chief, Poweshiek, had his village on the Cedar River. A struggle for the county seat between Rochester and Tipton, which was more centrally located, was finally decided in favor of Tipton. The Quaker community of West Branch is where Iowa’s only President, Herbert Hoover, was born and lived as a boy. The Hoover Presidential Library is located in West Branch.