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Office: Winnebago County Emergency Management – Public Safety Center, 935 Highway 69 N, Forest City, IA 50436 | (641) 585-1942.
Sheriff: Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office (Public Safety Center) – 935 Highway 69 N, Forest City, IA 50436 | (641) 585-0020. Provides law enforcement for the unincorporated county and contracts with smaller municipalities lacking their own departments.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911. Winnebago County is not a home-rule county under Iowa law – like all Iowa counties, its powers derive from state statute under Dillon’s Rule, unlike Iowa’s incorporated cities, which do have home-rule authority.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-69 serves Forest City, the county seat, which straddles both Winnebago and Hancock counties.
Notes: Winnebago County was founded in 1847, named for the Winnebago (Ho-Chunk) people, who had a regional agency roughly 40 miles north of Forest City before being removed from the area following the Dakota War of 1862. It is Iowa’s fifth-smallest county by land area. Forest City was settled in 1855 by Pennsylvania native Robert Clark, who named the town for the forest it was carved from; it incorporated June 14, 1878. Many of the county’s early pioneers were of Norwegian descent.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Winnebago County Courthouse – 126 S. Clark Street, Forest City, IA (built 1894-1896, Romanesque, architects Kinney & Orth; National Register of Historic Places since 1981).
Notes: Winnebago County holds a genuinely famous claim to fame: it is the birthplace of Winnebago Industries, founded in Forest City in February 1958 by local businessman John K. Hanson, who convinced a California travel-trailer firm to open a factory there to help revive the town’s struggling economy. Renamed Winnebago Industries in 1960 and producing its first motorhome in 1966, the company grew into a worldwide leader in RV manufacturing – so dominant that “Winnebago” itself entered the American vernacular as a common noun for any motorhome. Forest City is also home to Waldorf University and Pilot Knob State Park, preserved since 1924 to showcase the region’s Wisconsin Glacial Drift terrain.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Winnebago County Veterans Affairs – Courthouse, 126 S. Clark Street, Forest City, IA 50436.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Forest City Public Library (Forest City) – confirm current address/phone via the county library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Winnebago Industries Visitors Center (factory tours), Pilot Knob State Park, and the Winnebago Historical Society’s Mansion Museum are the county’s premier heritage and industrial-tourism attractions.
Notes: The genuine, culturally significant status of Winnebago Industries – whose name became a household word for RVs – is among the most recognizable local industrial stories covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Winnebago County Assessor’s Office – Courthouse, 126 S. Clark Street, Forest City, IA 50436 | (641) 585-2163.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
⚠️ No confirmed dedicated Winnebago County, Iowa animal shelter was found in current sourcing. Residents should contact the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office, (641) 585-0020, for current animal control arrangements.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Winnebago County Environmental Health – 216 S. 4th Street, Forest City, IA 50436 | (641) 585-4763.
NOTES: Winnebago County is the one-hundredth county completed in Iowa’s Round 3 v2 redo, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. The genuine, culturally significant status of Winnebago Industries is among the most recognizable local industrial stories 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 Winnebago County County
Winnebago County is north Iowa’s Winnebago Industries and lake country county – the iconic American RV manufacturer that made Forest City the RV capital of the world and the north Iowa pothole lake landscape near Minnesota define a county whose manufacturing heritage and agricultural identity coexist in one of north Iowa’s most distinctive communities.
Forest City (the county seat, population ~4,200) is Winnebago County’s governmental hub on US 18, a north Iowa community whose Winnebago Industries headquarters, Waldorf University, Rice Lake access, and corn belt farming anchor its identity.
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Winnebago County Assessor at 126 S. Clark Street, Forest City, IA 50436, phone 641-585-2171. IA assessed at actual value.
Courts & Legal
Winnebago County District Court at 126 S. Clark Street, Forest City, IA 50436, phone 641-585-3425, 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)
126 S. Clark St., Forest City, IA 50436
(641) 585-3425
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Winnebago County District Court (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Winnebago Industries, headquartered in Forest City, is a significant local industrial history topic.
Local societies
No dedicated Winnebago 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
Winnebago County District Court, 2nd Judicial District 126 South Clark Street, Suite 6, Forest City, IA 50436 (641) 585-4444
Winnebago County is on the Minnesota border in north-central Iowa, seated in Forest City, home to Winnebago Industries (RV manufacturer).
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 Winnebago 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
126 S. Clark St., Forest City, IA 50436
(641) 585-2880
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY AUDITOR (Records, Elections, Finance)
126 S. Clark St., Forest City, IA 50436
(641) 585-2622
ELECTIONS (County Auditor)
126 S. Clark St., Forest City, IA 50436
(641) 585-2622
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Winnebago County Health Dept
(641) 585-2622
Iowa DHHS — Region 2
(800) 338-8366
Iowa Medicaid
(800) 338-8366
MercyOne North Iowa (Mason City)
mercyone.org/northiowa
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Winnebago County Public Health – 216 S. 4th Street, Forest City, IA 50436 | (641) 585-4763.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Forest City
Population: 10,500
Area: 400 sq mi
Established: 1857
Public Records
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