| Year | Date | Description |
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| 1851 | Jan 15 | Gov. Stephen Hempstead approved an act of the Iowa Legislature creating fifty new counties, among which were Emmet and Dickinson. |
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| 1856 | Jun | Jesse Coverdale and George C. Granger, the first white settlers in Emmet County, located claims in what is now Emmet Township. |
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| 1857 | Jan 04 | Birth of Peter Rourke, the first white child born in Emmet County. |
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| 1857 | Jan 19 | Third constitutional convention assembled at Iowa City. Emmet, Dickinson and twenty-one other northwestern counties represented by Daniel W. Price. |
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| 1857 |
| First postoffice established in Emmet County with George C. Granger as postmaster. |
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| 1859 | Feb 07 | First election for county officers in Emmet County. |
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| 1859 | Apr 29 | Marriage of George Jenkins and Miss Sophronia A. Ridley—the first marriage in Emmet County. |
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| 1859 |
| First school in Emmet County was taught in this year by Miss Mary Howe. |
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| 1860 |
| A postoffice was established at Estherville with Adolphus Jenkins as postmaster. |
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| 1860 | Dec 24 | First schoolhouse at Estherville dedicated with a supper and dance. |
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| 1861 | Apr 17 | Gov. Samuel J. Kirkwood issued his proclamation calling for one regiment of volunteers for service in the Civil war. |
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| 1861 | May 01 | The plat of Estherville was filed with the recorder of Emmet County. |
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| 1862 |
| In the fall of this year Fort Defiance was built at Estherville by Company A, Northern Border Brigade. |
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| 1868 | Dec 14 | Bates & Northrop issued the first number of the Northern Vindicator at Estherville—the first newspaper in Northwestern Iowa. |
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| 1870 | Jan 18 | Ole Knudtson, a fourteen-year-old boy, lost in a blizzard and frozen to death in Emmet County. |
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| 1871 | Oct 03 | A disastrous prairie fire in the southern part of Emmet County. |
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| 1872 | Feb 16 | Two saloons in Estherville wrecked by women crusaders and the liquor emptied into the streets. |
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| 1873 | Jun 04 | Grasshoppers made their first appearance in Emmet County. Early in July they struck Dickinson County. |
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| 1876 |
| The first bank in Emmet County established at Estherville by Howard Graves. |
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| 1876 | Oct | The Emmet County courthouse burned. |
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| 1879 | May 10 | An aerolite weighing several hundred pounds landed in Emmet Township, Emmet County, about two miles north of Estherville. |
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| 1879 | Oct 14 | At the general election in Emmet County a majority of the voters expressed themselves in favor of the removal of the county seat to Swan Lake. |
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| 1881 | Dec 02 | The first officers of the incorporated Town of Estherville were inaugurated. |
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| 1882 | Jun 08 | The first train on the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern (now the Rock Island) Railroad arrived at Estherville. |
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| 1882 | Jun 27 | Special election on the constitutional amendment to prohibit the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors in Iowa. In Emmet County the vote was in favor of the amendment. |
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| 1882 | Nov 07 | The voters of Emmet County decided in favor of removing the county seat back to Estherville. |
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| 1884 | Nov 22 | The present courthouse in Emmet County was accepted by the board of supervisors. |
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| 1887 | Jun | The board of supervisors of Emmet County appropriated $400 for an artesian well at Estherville. |
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| 1892 | Dec 22 | Estherville was made a city of the second class by the state authorities. |
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| 1893 | Mar 06 | First election of city officers in Estherville. |
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| 1895 | Mar 22 | Office and plant of the Estherville Democrat destroyed by fire. |
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| 1898 | May 25 | Fifty-second Iowa Infantry mustered into the United States service for the Spanish-American war. Eight Emmet County men were enrolled in Company K. |
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| 1899 |
| The Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad was built through Emmet and Dickinson counties. |
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| 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. |
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| 1904 | Dec 26 | The Coon Block at Estherville, and several adjacent buildings were destroyed by fire. |
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| 1909 | May 13 | The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad depot at Estherville burned. |
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| 1909 | Sep 21 | The Northwestern Iowa Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church began its session in Estherville. |
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| 1910 | Nov 08 | At the general election on this date the voters of Emmett County indorsed the proposition to buy a poor farm by a vote of 1,357 to 504. |
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| 1914 | Mar 26 | The publication office of the Estherville Enterprise was destroyed by fire. |
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| 1917 | Jan 08 | Fire destroyed the Grand Theater at Estherville causing a loss of nearly two hundred thousand dollarss. |
