Bancroft County, Iowa

Bancroft County, Iowa, was a county located in what today is the northern portion of Kossuth County.

Bancroft County
County of Iowa
1851–1857
Location within the U.S. state of Iowa
History
• Established	1851
• Disestablished	1857
Contained within
• Country	United States
• State	Iowa
Preceded by Succeeded by Fayette County Kossuth County
Today part of	United States

Historic map of Iowa including Bancroft County

History

The county was established in 1851 by the Iowa General Assembly. The county was named for historian and statesman George Bancroft (1800–1891). There never was a county seat established or the organization of a county government.^[1]

The county was then abolished six years later and joined to Kossuth County, leading to it being roughly twice the size of adjacent counties.^[1] It was abolished because the area was wetland, making it unsuitable for farming. Today, only a small amount of the wetlands remain, mostly at the Union Slough National Wildlife Refuge, with the remainder of the land arable by modern farming standards.^[2]

Brief reestablishment as Crocker County

Main article: Crocker County, Iowa

On May 13, 1870, Crocker County was formed out of the same area as Bancroft County, the 12 northern townships of Kossuth. The county seat of Crocker was Greenwood Center. Many southern Kossuth settlers were unhappy because they did not want the county to be divided, hoping to have the honor of being the largest county. However, it later merged back into Kossuth County when it was discovered that Crocker was unconstitutional as it was under 432 square miles of territory, the minimum according to the Iowa Constitution.^[3]

Attempt to reestablish as Larrabee County

Main article: Larrabee County, Iowa

On February 22, 1913, legislation was introduced again to create a new county in the northern area of Kossuth. The proposed region would have been called Larrabee County named after governor William Larrabee.^[3]