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Please add profiles of those who were born, lived or died in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa.
Official Website
Cerro Gordo County was formed in 1851 and takes its name from the Battle of Cerro Gordo in the Mexican–American War, where General Winfield Scott defeated the Mexican General Santa Anna on April 18, 1847.
In 1851 the first white settlers came into the area of the present county and settled on Clear Lake. Four years later, on August 7, 1855, the first elections were held and the first legal proceedings occurred in 1857. In the summer of the same year, Livonia was chosen as the new county seat. In 1858, the seat was returned to Mason City. In 1866, the first courthouse was erected, which was used until 1900. The courthouse still used today opened on November 17, 1960.
Cerro Gordo County was the site of the airplane crash north of the city of Clear Lake, in which rock and roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, along with their pilot Roger A. Peterson, were killed on February 3, 1959. The site is in Grant Township, in the northwestern part of the county.
Adjacent Counties
Cities, Townships & Communities
Bath | Burchinal | Cameron | Cartersville | Clear Lake | Dougherty | Emery | Falls | Freeman | Geneseo | Grant | Grimes | Hurley | Lake | Lime Creek | Lincoln | Mason | Mason City (County Seat) | Meservey | Mount Vernon | Owen | Pleasant Valley | Plymouth | Portland | Rock Falls | Rockwell | Swaledale | Thornton | Union | Ventura
Cemeteries
Links
National Register of Historic Places
Plat Book of Cerro Gordo County - 1930
History of Cerro Gordo County - 1910
Mason City Genealogical Records
