Some claim Louisa County is named in honor of Louisa Massey of Dubuque. She was famous in folklore to have slain the murderer of her brother. Others think the name was in honor of Louisa County, Virginia.
Louisa County has a lot of history. Once the site of a glacier, Louisa County contains more than one-fourth of all archeological sites on the Great River Road in Iowa. Artifacts from early hunters and farmers are found at those sites.
Louisa County was created out of a strip of land that was known as the Black Hawk Purchase. The earliest settlers arrived in present day Louisa County in 1835, when it was still part of Demoine County. Louisa County itself was founded in the winter of 1836.
The first county seat was Lower Wapello, declared by the Wisconsin Legislature in 1838. But, in January 1839 the Territorial Legislature of Iowa proposed that an election be held to name a county seat. Wapello was declared the county seat on March 4, 1839. One year later a one-story brick structure was constructed at a cost of $1,300.
In 1854 the brick courthouse was replaced and then used as a school. The third courthouse was constructed of stone that was quarried from the bluffs southwest of Wapello. It cost $9,577 to complete.
There have been many battles between Wapello and Columbus Junction over the county seat. Columbus Junction went as far as to construct a new courthouse; it was later used as a high school. In all of these battles Columbus Junction lost. As a consolation prize, Columbus Junction received the annual Louisa County Fair.
The present courthouse is located on the site of the previous courthouse. The two-story brick and stone building was completed in 1928 at a cost of $100,000. On the courthouse grounds is a 20-pound Civil War cannon made by G.E. Parret of Notre Dame, Indiana in 1861.
Source: Verl Lekwa
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Communities
| Columbus City | Columbus Junction | Cotter | Fredonia |
| Grandview | Morning Sun | Oakville | Toolesboro |
| Wapello | Wyman |
