Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial recommendations are independent of these relationships.
Iowa County
Cedar County, Iowa
West Branch - Herbert Hoover's birthplace and the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library - from Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in West Branch (the tiny two-room cottage where Herbert Hoover - the 31st President of the United States - was born on August 10, 1874 is preserved as a National Historic Site along with the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, making West Branch the smallest birthplace community of any American president) to Cedar County's productive east-central Iowa agricultural landscape along the Cedar River corridor.
Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial recommendations are independent of these relationships.
What do you need to do?
Tell us your goal and we'll guide you step-by-step to the right office, forms, and official resources.
Office: Cedar County Emergency Management – 1410 Cedar Street, Tipton, IA 52772. Hours: Mon-Fri 8:30 AM-3:30 PM or by appointment. Commission meets quarterly, second Tuesday of January/April/July/October.
Sheriff: Cedar County Sheriff’s Office (Law Enforcement Center) – 711 E. South Street, Tipton, IA 52772 | (563) 886-2052 | Fax (563) 886-2121; also (563) 331-9900 at the Courthouse. Patrols 576 square miles and is chief law enforcement for Bennett, Clarence, Durant, Lowden, Mechanicsville, Stanwood, Tipton, West Branch, and Wilton. Hours: Mon-Fri 8 AM-4 PM (emergency services 24/7). Communications Department dispatches for 5 police departments, 6 ambulance services, 2 first responder services, and 8 fire departments countywide.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: I-80 and US-6 serve Tipton, the county seat, in eastern Iowa.
Notes: Cedar County is home to West Branch, along I-80, roughly 10 miles east of Iowa City.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Cedar County Courthouse – 400 Cedar Street, Tipton, IA.
Notes: Cedar County holds a genuinely significant place in American presidential history: West Branch is the birthplace and final resting place of Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States. Born August 10, 1874, in a small two-room cottage built by his father Jesse, a blacksmith, Hoover spent his early boyhood in West Branch before being orphaned and moving to Oregon at around age 9-11 (sources vary). He went on to a career as a mining engineer, humanitarian, and president, and requested burial back in West Branch alongside his wife, Lou Henry Hoover (herself born in nearby Waterloo, Iowa); over 100,000 people lined the roughly 30-mile funeral procession route from Cedar Rapids to West Branch after his 1964 death. The Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, established in 1965 and designated a National Historic Landmark District, encompasses 186.8 acres including the birthplace cottage, Jesse’s reconstructed blacksmith shop, a Quaker meetinghouse, a schoolhouse, and the gravesite; the separately administered Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum sits on the same grounds. Separately, in Tipton, the Cedar County Sheriff’s House and Jail (National Register of Historic Places, 2003) was known locally as a “Mom and Pop Jail” – the sheriff’s wife cooked for inmates while the sheriff or a deputy handled supervision – and is believed to be the last combined sheriff’s-residence-and-jail facility in use in the country before it closed in 2001.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Cedar County Veterans Affairs – confirm current contact via cedarcounty.iowa.gov.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Tipton Public Library (Tipton) – confirm current address/phone via the county library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Herbert Hoover National Historic Site and Presidential Library/Museum in West Branch, and the Cedar County Sheriff’s House and Jail Museum in Tipton, are the county’s premier heritage attractions.
Notes: The genuine, dual significance of West Branch as both the birthplace and burial site of a U.S. president is among the most historically important sites covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Cedar County Assessor’s Office / GIS – confirm current contact via cedarcounty.iowa.gov.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Friends of the Animals – 320 W. 6th Street, PO Box 383, Tipton, IA 52772 | (563) 886-2361 | Email: [email protected]. The only animal shelter in Cedar County. Cedar County League for Animal Welfare (CCLAW) – PO Box 24, Tipton, IA 52772 | Email: [email protected] – volunteer/foster-based nonprofit focused on cat rescue and TNVR, visits by appointment.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Cedar County Solid Waste Commission – confirm current contact via cedarcounty.iowa.gov.
NOTES: Cedar County is the sixteenth county in Iowa’s Round 3 v2 redo, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. The genuine, dual significance of West Branch as both the birthplace and burial site of a U.S. president is among the most historically important sites covered anywhere in this project. 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 Cedar County
Cedar County is east-central Iowa’s presidential birthplace county – Herbert Hoover’s two-room West Branch cottage is the smallest presidential birthplace in America, preserved alongside the Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.
West Branch (population ~2,400) draws visitors to the Hoover National Historic Site year-round. Tipton (the county seat, population ~3,200) serves the county’s governmental needs.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Cedar County Assessor at 400 Cedar Street, Suite 1, Tipton, IA 52772, phone 563-886-3413. IA assessed at 100% market value with residential rollback.
Courts & Legal
Cedar County District Court at 400 Cedar Street, Tipton, IA 52772, phone 563-886-2101, 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)
400 Cedar St., Tipton, IA 52772
(563) 886-3168
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Cedar County District Court (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
The Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in nearby West Branch is a notable regional historical landmark.
Local societies
No dedicated Cedar 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
Cedar County District Court, 1st Judicial District 400 Cedar Street, Tipton, IA 52772 (563) 886-2101
Cedar County is in eastern Iowa; President Herbert Hoover’s birthplace, West Branch, sits nearby along the county’s border region.
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 Cedar 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
400 Cedar St., Tipton, IA 52772
(563) 886-2121
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY AUDITOR (Records, Elections, Finance)
400 Cedar St., Tipton, IA 52772
(563) 886-2441
ELECTIONS (County Auditor)
400 Cedar St., Tipton, IA 52772
(563) 886-2441
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Cedar County Health Dept
(563) 886-6170
Iowa DHHS — Region 7
(800) 338-8366
Iowa Medicaid
(800) 338-8366
MercyOne Iowa City
mercyone.org/iowacity
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Cedar County Public Health – confirm current contact via cedarcounty.iowa.gov.
Editorial independence: CountyOffices maintains strict editorial independence from our affiliate partners. Our content is researched from official government sources. Affiliate relationships do not influence our recommendations or the information we publish.
