Wapello, IA

Wapello is Louisa County’s seat, a city on the west side of the Iowa River that was platted in the late 1830s. The name honors Wapello, a Meskwaki chief whose village stood along the river before the town took shape. In 1839, Wapello won the county-seat decision, and the first courthouse was a cottonwood-log building; later courthouses moved through brick and stone before the present 1928 building. U.S. 61 passes through town, and the Iowa River remains the cleanest way to understand the map. Wapello is a courthouse place with a river edge and a name tied to the people who lived here first.