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57-548: Decorah is the largest city in and county seat of Winneshiek County , Iowa , United States. The population was 7,587 at the time of the 2020 census . Decorah is located at the intersection of State Highway 9 and U.S. Route 52 . Located within the Driftless Area in northeastern Iowa, Decorah is situated in the bluffs of the Upper Iowa River, which flows through the city. Decorah is a college town , being

114-531: A Superior Court and Sheriff (as an officer of the court ), both located in a designated "shire town". Bennington County, Vermont has two shire towns; the court for "North Shire" is in the shire town Manchester , and the Sheriff for the county and court for "South Shire" are in the shire town Bennington. In 2024, Connecticut , which had not defined their counties for anything but statistical, historical and weather warning purposes since 1960, along with ending

171-656: A celebration of Norwegian culture. Decorah is also the home of the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum , the largest Norwegian museum in the United States. Natural features include Dunning's Spring, Ice Cave , and Siewers Spring. The city is home to several parks built on bluffs, particularly Phelps Park, Palisades Park, and Pulpit Rock. Until 2003, Decorah had a community ski area, the Nor-Ski Runs Ski Area. Decorah

228-410: A county seat may be an independent city surrounded by, but not part of, the county of which it is the administrative center; for example, Fairfax City is both the county seat of Fairfax County, Virginia and completely surrounded by Fairfax County, but the city is politically independent of the county. When the county seat is in the independent city, government offices such as the courthouse may be in

285-559: A destination for immigrants seeking land patents in northern Iowa. Since 1861, it has been the home of Luther College , a liberal arts institution affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America . The Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad opened a branch to Decorah in 1869. Decorah has become a center for Norwegian-American culture originating from a high number of Norwegian settlements beginning in

342-711: A new reservation in Minnesota, opening their Iowa villages to white settlers. The first European-Americans to settle were the Day family from Tazewell County, Virginia . According to local Congregationalist minister Rev. Ephraim Adams, the Days arrived in June 1849 with the Ho-Chunks' "tents still standing—with the graves of the dead scattered about where now run our streets and stand our dwellings." Judge Eliphalet Price suggested that

399-632: Is an 18–27 m thick greenish brown to dark grey laminated sandy shale that crops out only in one locality which is mostly submerged by the Upper Iowa River near Decorah. Bore hole data indicate that the total thickness of the Winneshiek Shale is about 18 m at the outcrop locality, but only the upper 4 m was systematically collected during the excavation. In these 4 m, most of the Pentecopterus fossils were collected. This shale

456-469: Is confined to a circular basin about 5.6 km in diameter in the Decorah area that probably originated from a meteorite impact. Palaeogeographic and paleoenvironmental studies suggest that this crater was located in marginal to nearshore marine conditions with little oxygen, possibly in a brackish water environment within the tropical southern Laurentia . The Winneshiek fauna is very different from

513-520: Is estimated that Pentecopterus had a length of 1.7 metres (5 ft 7 in), turning it into one of the largest eurypterids or arthropods ever discovered. However, Pentecopterus was overtaken by other eurypterids such as Jaekelopterus rhenaniae , the largest known arthropod with 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in). A replica of the eurypterid was created for the National Geographic 's " The Strange Truth " program. The project had

570-620: Is home to an operating trout hatchery as well as Twin Springs Park, the former home of the hatchery. The Raptor Resource Project is located in Decorah. Each year they host a livestreamed webcam of a family of nesting bald eagles as they rear their young. Decorah is part of the Decorah Community School District in Winneshiek County. The high school is Decorah High School , and the mascot

627-409: Is known as the seat of its county. Generally, the county legislature, county courthouse, sheriff's department headquarters, hall of records, jail and correctional facility are located in the county seat, though some functions (such as highway maintenance, which usually requires a large garage for vehicles, along with asphalt and salt storage facilities) may also be located or conducted in other parts of

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684-588: Is located approximately 15 miles (24 km) south of the Minnesota -Iowa border. It is the northernmost major community located along U.S. Route 52 in Iowa . According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 7.04 square miles (18.23 km), of which 7.01 square miles (18.16 km) is land and 0.03 square miles (0.08 km) is water. Decorah is located in and on

741-507: Is of Erieopterus -type, that is, it consists of a single plate that covers the anterior and lateral portion of the ventral carapace. The appendages are attached to the soft ventral integument of the plate. The general outline of the carapace was quadrate with an elongate trapezoidal outline. Most of the fossils of the Winneshiek Shale of Decorah, where the fossils of Pentecopterus have been found, were recovered in 2010 from

798-519: Is often used in other genus of eurypterids. The specific name refers to Decorah, Iowa , where Pentecopterus was discovered. The genus is classified as part of the Megalograptidae family of eurypterids, a family differentiated from other eurypterids by the possession of two or more pairs of spines per podomere on prosomal appendage IV, a reduction of almost all spines and the large exoskeletons with ovate to triangular scales. It

855-456: Is printed twice a week in Decorah - The Driftless Journal and Decorah Public Opinion . Newspaper office location: 110 Washington Street, Decorah, IA 52101. Web: The local independent news web site is Decorah News. Other nearby stations include: County seat In Canada , the provinces of Ontario , Quebec , New Brunswick , Prince Edward Island , and Nova Scotia have counties as an administrative division of government below

912-499: Is separated from the other megalograptids by the presence of only one pair of spines on the third podomere of appendage III, a single terminal spine on each prosomal appendage, and the absence of dense cuticular ornamentation. Pentecopterus also lacks the cercal blades that occur in Megalograptus , where they have been interpreted as functioning as a biological rudder, like the pterygotid telson. This suggests that Pentecopterus

969-558: Is simplified from a study by Lamsdell et al. (2015), showing the phylogenetic positions of the genera within Megalograptidae. Echinognathus clevelandi Megalograptus williamsae Megalograptus ohioensis Megalograptus welchi Pentecopterus decorahensis Pentecopterus is known from Middle Ordovician deposits in the Winneshiek Shale of Iowa dated to the Darriwilian (467.3 mya). The Winneshiek Shale

1026-552: Is the Vikings. St. Benedict School of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque is in Decorah. It opened in 1885 in a two-story, four-room frame building. The school, with five nuns as teachers, was initially until high school but in 1919 became an elementary-middle school only. The convent, which had a second-floor bridge to the original school building, was renovated to be the second school building. In 1964

1083-546: The Darriwilian age of the Middle Ordovician period, as early as 467.3 million years ago. The genus contains only one species, P. decorahensis , that is the oldest known eurypterid, surpassing other Ordovician eurypterids, such as Brachypterus , in age by almost 9 million years. The generic name derives from the penteconter , a warship from ancient Greece , and the suffix - pterus , which means "wing" and

1140-492: The Megalograptidae . While fragmentary tergites have been suggested to indicate a length of 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) for Megalograptus shideleri , they actually indicate a length of at most 56 cm (22 in). Most Pentecopterus specimens would have had a total length of 75–100 cm (30–39 in). The large amount of fragmentary specimens recovered of Pentecopterus , including juveniles and exuviae specimens, have allowed an almost complete description of

1197-524: The University of Iowa Paleontology Repository. The genus was named by James C. Lamsdell, Derek E. G. Briggs, Huaibao P. Liu, Brian J. Witzke and Robert M. McKay in 2015 and the type species is Pentecopterus decorahensis . It is the only eurypterid discovered in Iowa other than Mycterops whitei , a species whose assignment to Mycterops is doubtful. The genus is named after the penteconter , an early galley (ship) from ancient Greece and one of

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1254-536: The census of 2000, there were 8,172 people, 2,819 households, and 1,561 families living in the city. The population density was 1,275.9 inhabitants per square mile (492.6/km). There were 2,968 housing units at an average density of 463.4 units per square mile (178.9 units/km). The racial makeup of the city was 95.99% White , 1.13% African American , 0.10% Native American , 1.60% Asian , 0.01% Pacific Islander , 0.42% from other races , and 0.76% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.30% of

1311-458: The county seat of Winneshiek County , which is a major employer. The county courthouse was built in 1903. Decorah's largest employer is Luther College , in addition to several national corporations. Because Winneshiek County 's economy is primarily based on farming, Decorah serves as an agricultural hub. Decorah is also home to Seed Savers Exchange , an heirloom plant farm and preservation organization. Each July, Decorah hosts Nordic Fest ,

1368-472: The 1850s. Each July, Decorah is the host of Nordic Fest , a celebration of Norwegian culture with ethnic dancing, food, and music. Decorah is also the home of the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum , the largest museum in the country devoted to a single immigrant group. Until 1972, one of the largest Norwegian language newspapers in the nation was published in Decorah, the Decorah Posten . Decorah

1425-518: The Days name their new settlement Decorah after Ho-Chunk leader Waukon Decorah , who was a U.S. ally during the Black Hawk War of 1832. During the 1850s and 1860s, Decorah grew quickly as settlers built dams and mills to harness water power at Dunning's Spring and other local streams. In 1851, the town became the county seat of Winneshiek County. Decorah also became the site of a United States General Land Office from 1855 to 1856, making it

1482-884: The United States, followed by Towson , the county seat of Baltimore County, Maryland . Likewise, some county seats may not be incorporated in their own right, but are located within incorporated municipalities. For example, Cape May Court House, New Jersey , though unincorporated, is a section of Middle Township , an incorporated municipality. In some states, often those that were among the original Thirteen Colonies , county seats include or formerly included "Court House" as part of their name, such as Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia . Most counties have only one county seat. However, some counties in Alabama , Arkansas , Georgia , Iowa , Kentucky , Massachusetts , Mississippi , Missouri , New Hampshire , New York , and Vermont have two or more county seats, usually located on opposite sides of

1539-504: The bluffs of the Upper Iowa River valley; the river flows through the city en route to its confluence with the Upper Mississippi River . The river is faced by steep bluffs, characteristic of the Driftless Area . About 470 million years ago, a meteorite as big as a city block smashed into what is now Decorah, supporting a theory that a giant space rock broke up and bombarded Earth just as early life began flourishing in

1596-489: The city was 91.7% White , 1.8% Asian , 1.4% Black or African American , 0.3% Native American , 0.1% Pacific Islander , 1.5% from other races , and 3.1% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 3.6% Hispanic or Latino of any race. The 2020 census population of the city included 1,463 people in student housing. According to the American Community Survey estimates for 2016–2020,

1653-557: The city was 94.6% White , 1.5% African American , 2.2% Asian , 0.6% from other races , and 1.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.0% of the population. There were 2,855 households, of which 21.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.4% were married couples living together, 6.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 2.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 46.5% were non-families. 38.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.7% had someone living alone who

1710-526: The counties after his unification, there were about 1,000. Under the Eastern Han dynasty , the number of counties increased to above 1,000. About 1400 existed when the Sui dynasty abolished the commandery level (郡 jùn), which was the level just above counties, and demoted some commanderies to counties. In Imperial China, the county was a significant administrative unit because it marked the lowest level of

1767-418: The county, especially if it is geographically large. A county seat is usually an incorporated municipality . The exceptions include the county seats of counties that have no incorporated municipalities within their borders, such as Arlington County, Virginia , where the county seat is the entire county. Ellicott City , the county seat of Howard County, Maryland , is the largest unincorporated county seat in

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1824-420: The county. Examples include Harrison County, Mississippi , which has both Biloxi and Gulfport as county seats, and Hinds County, Mississippi , which has both Raymond and the state capital of Jackson . The practice of multiple county seat towns dates from the days when travel was difficult. There have been few efforts to eliminate the two-seat arrangement, since a county seat is a source of civic pride for

1881-441: The crater, depositing sediment and an array of bizarre sea creatures that hardened into fossils. One such creature is Pentecopterus decorahensis , which was named for the city. As of the census of 2020 , the population was 7,587. The population density was 1,052.0 inhabitants per square mile (406.2/km). There were 3,210 housing units at an average density of 445.1 units per square mile (171.9 units/km). The racial makeup of

1938-439: The current school was built for $ 268,000 in southern Decorah. A new addition was established in the 1980s, with a music room, a storage and teaching aid area, and two classrooms. Decorah is also home to Luther College , a private four-year residential college affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and known especially for their Nordic Choir . Their mascot is "The Norse." Newspaper: The community newspaper

1995-422: The external morphology. Pentecopterus is diagnosed as a megalograptid retaining a single pair of spines on the third podomere of the third prosomal appendages, a short appendage V with a serrated distal margin of podomeres; prosomal ventral plates widening anteriorly, posterolateral pretelson lacking expansion and xiphos -like shaped telson, with a margin laterally ornamented with scales. The prosomal ventral plate

2052-430: The first true warships, due to some similarities in shape and that the taxon represents an early predator. The suffix - pterus means "wing" and is commonly applied to eurypterid genera. The specific name decorahensis refers to Decorah, Iowa , where the fossils were discovered. Pentecopterus is classified within the family Megalograptidae in the monotypic superfamily Megalograptoidea . Pentecopterus shares with

2109-451: The help of James Lamsdell, one of the paleontologists who contributed to the description of Pentecopterus , who provided information and two illustrations. When it was finished, it was taken to the impact site where the original fossils were discovered. Pentecopterus is among the largest known arthropods, with the largest specimens having an estimated length of 1.7 metres (5 ft 7 in). With this size, it exceeds all other genera of

2166-401: The home of Luther College . It is known for its Norwegian-American heritage and the corresponding Vesterhiem Norwegian-American Museum . Decorah was the site of a Ho-Chunk village beginning circa 1840. Several Ho-Chunks had settled along the Upper Iowa River that year when the U.S. Army forced them to remove from Wisconsin . In 1848, the United States removed the Ho-Chunks again to

2223-424: The imperial bureaucratic structure; in other words, it was the lowest level that the government reached. Government below the county level was often undertaken through informal non-bureaucratic means, varying between dynasties. The head of a county was the magistrate , who oversaw both the day-to-day operations of the county as well as civil and criminal cases. The current number of counties mostly resembled that of

2280-585: The increase of Han Chinese population in Taiwan, the number of counties also grew by time. By the end of Qing era, there were 11 counties in Taiwan. Protestant missionaries in China first romanized the term as hien . When Taiwan became a Japanese colony in 1895, the hierarchy of divisions also incorporated into the Japanese system in the period when Taiwan was under Japanese rule. By September 1945, Taiwan

2337-625: The independent city under an agreement, such as in Albemarle , or may in be enclaves of the county surrounded by the independent city, such as in Fairfax . Others, such as Prince William , have the courthouse in an enclave surrounded by the independent city and have the county government, the Board of Supervisors, in a different part of the county, far from the county seat. The following counties have their county seat in an independent city: Bedford

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2394-758: The later years of the Qing dynasty . Changes of location and names of counties in Chinese history have been a major field of research in Chinese historical geography, especially from the 1960s to the 1980s. There are 1,355 counties in Mainland China out of a total of 2,851 county-level divisions. In Taiwan , the first counties were first established in 1661 by the Kingdom of Tungning . The later ruler Qing empire inherited this type of administrative divisions. With

2451-402: The median income for a household in the city was $ 55,920, and the median income for a family was $ 85,822. Male full-time workers had a median income of $ 49,643 versus $ 43,991 for female workers. The per capita income for the city was $ 27,154. About 4.5% of families and 10.0% of the population were below the poverty line , including 11.0% of those under age 18 and 4.6% of those age 65 or over. Of

2508-474: The oceans. The impact dug a crater nearly four miles wide that now lies beneath the town, said Bevan French, one of the world's foremost crater hunters and an adjunct scientist at the National Museum of Natural History. The Decorah crater lay undiscovered until recently because almost none of it is above ground. Instead, it is filled by an unusual shale that formed after an ancient seaway sluiced into

2565-454: The other megalograptids a series of characteristics such as the randomly-oriented armature on the swollen podomeres of appendage IV and the narrow gnathobase bearing multiple rows of small teeth on the coxa of appendage V. It also shares with Megalograptus the rows of enlarged scales running down the center of the opisthosomal tergites, however, these differ from those of Megalograptus because they are not situated on pronounced ridges. It

2622-436: The population age 25 and over, 96.9% were high school graduates or higher and 43.8% had a bachelor's degree or higher. As of the census of 2010, there were 8,127 people, 2,855 households, and 1,527 families living in the city. The population density was 1,159.3 inhabitants per square mile (447.6/km). There were 3,121 housing units at an average density of 445.2 units per square mile (171.9 units/km). The racial makeup of

2679-448: The population. 34.0% were of Norwegian , 30.3% German , 5.4% English and 5.2% Irish ancestry according to Census 2000 . There were 2,819 households, out of which 22.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.9% were married couples living together, 6.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.6% were non-families. 37.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.1% had someone living alone who

2736-775: The provincial level, and thus county seats. In the provinces of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia the term "shire town" is used in place of county seat. County seats in China are the administrative centers of the counties in the People's Republic of China . Xian have existed since the Warring States period and were set up nationwide by the Qin dynasty . The number of counties in China proper gradually increased from dynasty to dynasty. As Qin Shi Huang reorganized

2793-777: The state's area, has no borough government or borough seat. One borough, the Lake and Peninsula Borough , has its borough seat located in another borough, namely King Salmon in Bristol Bay Borough . In Louisiana , which is divided into parishes rather than counties, county seats are referred to as "parish seats". In New England , counties have served mainly as dividing lines for the states' judicial systems. Rhode Island has no county level of government and thus no county seats, and Massachusetts has dissolved many but not all of its county governments. In Vermont , Massachusetts , and Maine county government consists only of

2850-416: The towns involved, along with providing employment opportunities. There are 33 counties with multiple county seats in 11 states: Alaska is divided into boroughs rather than counties; the county seat in these case is referred to as the "borough seat"; this includes six consolidated city-borough governments (one of which is styled as a "municipality"). The Unorganized Borough, Alaska , which covers 49% of

2907-577: The upper 4 m section of the aforementioned site in Iowa . Other samples were collected from blocks eroded during flooding, which are assumed to have been sourced from the uppermost 2–3 m. The total number of fossils found is over 5,000, of which around 6.6% belong to eurypterids. Among the material eurypterid is the holotype of Pentecopterus , SUI 139941, which consists of a prosomal ventral plate and proximal podomeres of prosomal appendage II, in addition to multiple paratypes and additional material, all housed in

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2964-544: The use of county seats in particular, will fully transition with the permission of the United States Census Bureau to a system of councils of government for the purposes of boundary definition and as county equivalents. Two counties in South Dakota , Oglala Lakota and Todd , have their county seat and government services centered in a neighboring county. Their county-level services are provided by Fall River County and Tripp County , respectively. In Virginia ,

3021-399: Was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.09 and the average family size was 2.76. The median age in the city was 29.6 years. 14.3% of residents were under the age of 18; 32.1% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 15.3% were from 25 to 44; 19.5% were from 45 to 64; and 18.7% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 46.1% male and 53.9% female. As of

3078-447: Was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.13 and the average family size was 2.80. The city's age demographics were spread out, with 15.0% under the age of 18, 31.4% from 18 to 24, 17.8% from 25 to 44, 17.0% from 45 to 64, and 18.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 81.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 78.5 males. Decorah serves as

3135-479: Was an independent city from 1968 to 2013, while also being the county seat of Bedford County . Bedford reverted to an incorporated town, and remains the county seat, though is now part of the county. The state with the most counties is Texas, with 254, and the state with the fewest counties is Delaware, with 3. Pentecopterus decorahensis Pentecopterus is a genus of eurypterid , an extinct group of aquatic arthropods . Fossils have been registered from

3192-635: Was divided into 8 prefectures ( 州 and 廳 ), which remained after the Republic of China took over. There are 13 county seats in Taiwan, which function as county-administered cities , urban townships , or rural townships . In most of the United States , a county is an administrative or political subdivision of a state that consists of a geographic area with specific boundaries and usually some level of governmental authority. The city, town, or populated place that houses county government

3249-414: Was less able to swim than Megalograptus . Further, Pentecopterus has some features unique among the eurypterids, notably the shape of its carapace and the unusual shape of the sixth podomere of appendage VI. Pentecopterus also possesses lateral scales on the telson , something otherwise only seen in pterygotid eurypterids. This feature likely arose through convergent evolution . The cladogram below

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