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Office: Audubon County Emergency Management – 318 Leroy Street #4, Audubon, IA 50025 | (712) 563-3483; Coordinator Tyler Thygesen. Sheriff’s Office serves as the 24-hour countywide communications center, dispatching for Audubon and Exira City Police plus fire, rescue, and EMS for the towns of Audubon, Exira, Brayton, Kimballton, and Gray.
Sheriff: Audubon County Sheriff’s Office – 318 Leroy Street #4, Audubon, IA 50025 | (712) 563-2631; Sheriff Todd Johnson. Member of the W.I.N.E. (Southwest Iowa Narcotics Enforcement) task force and a regional Fusion Center.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-71 and IA-115 serve Audubon, the county seat, in southwestern Iowa.
Notes: Audubon County was formed January 15, 1851, from sections of Pottawattamie County, named for naturalist and painter John James Audubon. It is Iowa’s third-least populous county.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Audubon County Court House – 318 Leroy Street, Audubon, IA (built 1940, PWA Moderne style, designed by Keffer and Jones, National Register of Historic Places since 2003).
Notes: Audubon is home to a genuinely famous roadside icon: Albert the Bull, recognized as the World’s Largest Bull statue. Built in the summer of 1964 by the Audubon Junior Chamber of Commerce (Jaycees) – an idea championed by member Donald C. Olesen – the concrete Hereford stands roughly 28-30 feet tall and 33 feet long with a 15-foot horn span, nine times the size of a real Hereford bull, weighing 45 tons with a steel frame salvaged from abandoned Iowa windmills; it took 65 gallons of paint to color him authentically. Dedicated October 21, 1964 to coincide with the 14th annual “Operation T-bone” – an event begun in 1951 by local banker Albert Kruse (for whom the bull is named) that shipped trainloads of prime Audubon County beef to Chicago markets to promote Iowa’s cattle industry – Albert now draws more than 20,000 visitors annually to Albert the Bull Park. He has appeared in the film “Beethoven’s 3rd,” as a “Jeopardy!” clue, in a 2018 Cenex Super Bowl commercial, and in one of the “Twilight” film adaptations. Nearby, the Audubon County Home Historic District (Nathaniel Hamlin Park & Museum) preserves a site used as a Mormon Trail campground in the 1840s and a Meskwaki tribal hunting campground until 1886.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Audubon County Veterans Affairs – confirm current contact via auduboncountyia.gov.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Audubon Public Library (Audubon) – confirm current address/phone via the county library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Albert the Bull Park and the Nathaniel Hamlin Park & Museum are the county’s premier heritage attractions. Audubon County was also recognized as a “Bird Friendly Iowa” community as of May 2023.
Notes: The genuine, world-record status and pop-culture fame of Albert the Bull is among the most beloved roadside attractions covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Audubon County Assessor’s Office – confirm current contact via auduboncountyia.gov.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
⚠️ No confirmed dedicated Audubon County animal shelter was found in current sourcing. Residents should contact the Audubon County Sheriff’s Office, (712) 563-2631, for current animal control arrangements.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Audubon County Environmental Health – confirm current contact via auduboncountyia.gov.
NOTES: Audubon County is the fifth county in Iowa’s Round 3 v2 redo, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. The genuine, world-record status and pop-culture fame of Albert the Bull is among the most beloved roadside attractions covered anywhere in this project. ⚠️ Animal services could not be confirmed and are flagged for follow-up rather than smoothed over. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Audubon County County
Audubon County is west Iowa’s Albert the Bull and East Nishnabotna River agricultural county – the 45-foot concrete Hereford bull celebrating Iowa cattle heritage and the rolling corn and soybean fields define a small community where Audubon serves the county’s agricultural population in the west Iowa interior.
Audubon (the county seat, population ~2,000) is Audubon County’s governmental hub on US 71, a west Iowa agricultural community whose Albert the Bull landmark, farming economy, and East Nishnabotna River watershed anchor its identity.
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Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Audubon County Assessor at 318 Leroy Street, Audubon, IA 50025, phone 712-563-4207. IA assessed at actual value.
Courts & Legal
Audubon County District Court at 318 Leroy Street, Audubon, IA 50025, phone 712-563-2554, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CLERK OF DISTRICT COURT (Court Records, Marriage Licenses)
318 Leroy St., Audubon, IA 50025
(712) 563-3630
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Audubon County District Court (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Audubon County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Audubon County District Court, 4th Judicial District 318 Leroy Street, Suite 6 (Audubon City Hall), Audubon, IA 50025 (712) 563-4275
Audubon County was formed in 1851, named for naturalist John James Audubon. It is one of Iowa’s least populous counties. The 1940 Audubon County Courthouse (PWA Moderne, National Register of Historic Places) is the county’s third courthouse building.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Iowa has its own comprehensive probate code (Iowa Code Chapter 633) and has not formally adopted the Uniform Probate Code. Iowa offers several tracks depending on estate size and complexity:
Distribution by Affidavit (“very small estates”) – for estates where the gross value of personal property is $50,000 or less and there is no real estate, available 40 days after death under Iowa Code § 633.356. A sworn affidavit is presented directly to banks and other institutions. No court filing is required.
Small Estate Administration – a simplified probate process under Iowa Code Chapter 635 for estates with a gross value of $200,000 or less, with reduced notice requirements and court costs compared to full administration.
Regular (Full) Probate – standard administration through the district court for larger or more complex estates, which can be independent (unsupervised) or supervised.
Supervised Administration – closer court oversight, typically used for contested estates.
Step 2: filing for formal probate
File a Petition for Probate of Will and Appointment of Executor (if there’s a will) or a Petition for Administration (if intestate) with the Audubon County District Court.
The court admits the will (if any) and issues Letters Testamentary (with a will) or Letters of Administration (intestate) appointing the personal representative.
Publish notice to creditors; under independent administration, creditors generally have 4 months from the date of first publication to file claims.
The personal representative inventories assets, pays valid debts and expenses, and – under independent administration – largely acts without ongoing court check-ins.
After the creditor period closes and debts are paid, the personal representative distributes assets to heirs or beneficiaries.
File a final accounting/final report; the court closes the estate upon approval.
What it costs
Personal representative fees are capped by statute at 3% of the gross value of the probate estate (excluding life insurance) unless services are itemized; attorney fees follow a similar framework.
Recording fees at the county recorder run about $7 for the first page of a document and $5 for each additional page.
Typical timelines: Distribution by Affidavit – a minimum 40-day wait; independent (unsupervised) probate typically closes in 6-12 months, with the 4-month creditor period as the primary timing constraint.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
318 Leroy St., Audubon, IA 50025
(712) 563-2631
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY AUDITOR (Records, Elections, Finance)
318 Leroy St., Audubon, IA 50025
(712) 563-4275
ELECTIONS (County Auditor)
318 Leroy St., Audubon, IA 50025
(712) 563-4275
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Office: Audubon County HHS – 318 Leroy Street, Audubon, IA 50025 | (712) 792-4391 or (866) 202-5968 | Fax (712) 792-1516 (served by the Carroll County HHS office; appointment only).
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Audubon
Population: 5,400
Area: 443 sq mi
Established: 1851
Public Records
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