O'Brien County

administration
The O'Brien County Courthouse in Primghar, listed on the NRHP since 1981
US state :	Iowa
Administrative headquarters :	Primghar
Address of the administrative headquarters:	County Courthouse 155 S. Hayes Avenue Primghar, IA 51245-0000
Foundation :	January 15, 1851
Made up from:	Cherokee County
Area code :	001 712
Demographics
Residents :	14,398 (2010)
Population density :	9.7 inhabitants / km ²
geography
Total area :	1485 km²
Water surface :	0 km²
map

The O'Brien County is a county in the US state of Iowa . At the 2010 census , the county had 14,398 residents and a population density of 9.7 people per square kilometer. The county seat is Primghar .

geography

The county is located in northwest Iowa, about 35 km to the north from Minnesota , about 50 km to the west from North Dakota , and covers an area of 1,485 square kilometers with no significant body of water. It borders on the following neighboring counties:

Lyon County	Osceola County	Dickinson County
Sioux County		Clay County
Plymouth County	Cherokee County	Buena Vista County

history

W. S. O'Brien

O'Brien County was formed on January 15, 1851 from former parts of Cherokee County. The independent administration did not begin until January 25, 1860. It was named after William Smith O'Brien (1803-1864), a leader of the Irish Revolution of 1848.

In 1856, Hannibal H. Waterman, his wife Hannah H. Waterman and their daughter Emily were the first to settle in O'Brien County with two ox carts and some household items and some seeds and settled at Waterman Place, which is still known today . In the years that followed, several settlers arrived, and from 1860 Hannah Waterman began teaching the county's first children. The first school building was not built until 1869. Until 1872 the seat of the county administration was on the Moding Farm, about three miles west of Peterson.

O'Brien County has a National Historic Landmark , the Indian Village Site .

Demographic data

growth of population
Census	Residents	± in%
1860	8th	-
1870	715	8,837.5%
1880	4155	481.1%
1890	13,060	214.3%
1900	16,985	30.1%
1910	17,262	1.6%
1920	19.051	10.4%
1930	18,409	-3.4%
1940	19,293	4.8%
1950	18,970	-1.7%
1960	18,840	-0.7%
1970	17,522	-7%
1980	16,972	-3.1%
1990	15,444	-9%
2000	15.102	-2.2%
2010	14,398	-4.7%
Before 1900 1900–1990 2000–2010

According to the 2010 census , O'Brien County had 14,398 people in 6,035 households. The population density was 9.7 inhabitants per square kilometer.

The racial the population was composed of 96.0 percent white, 0.5 percent African American, 0.1 percent Native American, 0.6 percent Asian and other ethnic groups; 0.8 percent were descended from two or more races. Regardless of ethnicity, 3.8 percent of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Statistically, 2.28 people lived in each of the 6,035 households.

23.6 percent of the population were under 18 years old, 56.0 percent were between 18 and 64 and 20.4 percent were 65 years or older. 50.2 percent of the population was female.

The median income for a household was 43,292 USD . The per capita income was $ 24,647. 9.4 percent of the population lived below the poverty line.