Harrison county was established in 1851, and organized in 1853 by act of the legislature. The county seat was located at Magnolia, but removed to Logan in 1875. The county has now a population of 24,897. Comparatively few Swedes have located in Harrison county. The total number is only about 200, the majority of whom reside in Missouri Valley. A few Swedish farmers are found scattered over the county.

MISSOURI VALLEY

The largest town in Harrison county is Missouri Valley, located 21 miles east of Council Bluffs, on the main line of the Northwestern railroad. A branch line for Sioux City connects with the main line at this point. The Northwestern system has shops and a round house located at Missouri Valley which add to its importance as a railroad center. The first settlement at the place was made by H. B. Hendricks who located on a farm there in 1854. The town was platted in 1867 by John I. Blair, and incorporated in 1871. Its population is now 4,230.

Several Swedes located in Missouri Valley during the seventies and eighties, and secured employment in the railroad shops, but their number has diminished in later years, so that scarcely more than a score of Swedish families now remain in town. Of the business men only four are of Swedish nationality. For some time the Swedish Lutheran ministers of this part of the state made regular visits to Missouri Valley, and held services there, but the few remaining Swedish families who desire church fellowship have now joined the English Lutheran Church or some other denomination.