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| Year | Date | Description |
| 1834 | Sep | The Michigan Legislature divided the present State of Iowa into two counties—Dubuque and Des Moines. Emmet and Dickinson were included in the County of Dubuque. |
| 1851 | Jan 15 | Gov. Stephen Hempstead approved an act of the Iowa Legislature creating fifty new counties, among which were Emmet and Dickinson. |
| 1856 | Jul 16 | The first settlement established in Dickinson County by Rowland Gardner and Harvey Luce. |
| 1857 | Jan 19 | Third constitutional convention assembled at Iowa City. Emmet, Dickinson and twenty-one other northwestern counties represented by Daniel W. Price. |
| 1857 | Mar 08 | Beginning of the Spirit Lake massacre by the murder of the Gardner and Mattock families. |
| 1857 | Mar 24 | Expeditionary forces under Maj. William Williams left Fort Dodge for Spirit Lake. |
| 1857 | May 11 | First religious services in Dickinson County conducted at the Gardner cabin by Rev. J. S. Prescott. |
| 1857 | Jun | The town of Spirit Lake located by Howe, Parmenter and Wheelock. |
| 1857 | Aug 04 | First election for county officers of Dickinson County. |
| 1857 | In the fall of this year the first sawmill in Dickinson County was established on the shore of East Okoboji Lake by Jones & Miller. | |
| 1858 | Feb | A postoffice was established at Spirit Lake with R. U. Wheelock as postmaster. |
| 1958 | Feb | Robert W., son of Orlando C. Howe and wife, born. He was the first white child born in Dickinson County. |
| 1858 | Jun | Blackbirds ravaged the fields of Dickinson County. |
| 1859 | In the spring of this year the first marriage occurred in Dickinson County, between William E. Root and Miss Addie Ring. | |
| 1859 | First grist mill in Dickinson County started in this year by a man named Peters. | |
| 1859 | A weekly mail route was opened from Algona to Spirit Lake. | |
| 1861 | Apr 17 | Gov. Samuel J. Kirkwood issued his proclamation calling for one regiment of volunteers for service in the Civil war. |
| 1862 | Nov | First school in Dickinson County opened at Okoboji by Miss Myra Smith. |
| 1870 | Sep 06 | First issue of the Spirit Lake Beacon, the first newspaper in Dickinson County. |
| 1871 | Nov 24 | The Dickinson County courthouse was destroyed by fire. |
| 1873 | Jun 04 | Grasshoppers made their first appearance in Emmet County. Early in July they struck Dickinson County. |
| 1877 | Jan 01 | The first bank in Dickinson County was opened by Snyder, Smith & Company. |
| 1879 | Oct | The Town of Spirit Lake was incorporated. |
| 1882 | Jul 11 | The Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad was completed to Spirit Lake. |
| 1882 | Aug 01 | The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad ran the first train into Dickinson County. |
| 1891 | Nov 24 | The present courthouse in Dickinson County was completed and accepted by the board of supervisors. |
| 1893 | Jul | First Chautauqua Assembly in Dickinson County. |
| 1895 | Jul 25 | Monument commemorating the Spirit Lake massacre dedicated. |
| 1897 | Aug 03 | Upper Des Moines Valley Medical Association organized at Spirit Lake. |
| 1899 | The Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad was built through Emmet and Dickinson counties. | |
| 1900 | A geological survey of Dickinson County was made by Thomas H. MacBride. Mr. MacBride also made a geological survey of Emmet County in 1903 | |
| 1904 | Nov 08 | Dickinson County voters indorsed a bond issue for the purchase of a county poor farm. |
| 1905 | May 03 | A destructive tornado swept over Dickinson County. |
[History of Emmet County & Dickinson County, Iowa, 1917, submitted by Cathy Danielson]
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