Spencer

History

When Clay County was established in 1851, it had no local government and official business was done out of Sergeant's Bluff, nearly 100 miles away on the Missouri River. In 1859, Judge Hubbard of Iowa's 4th Judicial District authorized a committee to find a site for the county seat. This committee selected "Section 20 of Spencer Township", located roughly in the center of the county near the confluence of "Sioux River and Ocheydan Creek", as the site for the "seat of justice". County Judge Charles Smeltzer approved their plan and began signing documents with the location "Spencer, Clay County, Iowa", even though he was not physically there. A small group of land speculators had cleared the area and laid out a town plan, but there were no people living in that area at the time. Most of Clay County's residents were living in Peterson Township, in the far southeastern corner of the county. Put to a vote, Peterson was chosen as the County Seat and a courthouse erected there. The site of the proposed town languished, uninhabited, for many years, the area coming to be called "Spencer Grove". The first settlers in what is now Spencer arrived in Emmetsburg in the Winter of 1865. Most of the men were Union veterans of the Civil War from Wisconsin and were claiming land under the Homestead Act of 1862. While in Emmetsburg, they were told of Spencer Grove and decided it would make a nice place to establish their homesteads. The town site was platted by John Franklin Calkins. He and his family and some other families arrived in Spencer Grove in May 1866 and were joined by another wave of settlers later that summer. On September 20, 1866, Spencer Grove Township was formally organized; one of the benefits was the residents being able to vote locally rather than traveling twenty…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Spencer High School
  High · Spencer · 712 students · 17.8:1 ratio
• Spencer Middle School
  Middle · Spencer · 514 students · 16.6:1 ratio
• Lincoln Elementary School
  Elementary · Spencer · 467 students · 14.6:1 ratio
• Fairview Park Elementary
  Elementary · Spencer · 308 students · 12.8:1 ratio
• Johnson Elementary
  Elementary · Spencer · 229 students · 10.9:1 ratio
• Clay Central-Everly Elementary
  Elementary · Royal · 72 students · 7.2:1 ratio