Storm Lake

City and administrative headquarters of Buena Vista County, northwestern Iowa, on Storm Lake, 56 km/35 mi south of Spencer; population (1996 est) 8,900. There is manufacturing of plastics and food processing, and the city is also a summer lake resort.

Buena Vista's fist county seat was at Prairieville, also called Leesburg, but this town did not develop and the seat was moved to Sioux Rapids in 1870. The courthouse there burned down in 1877 and the county seat was transferred to Storm Lake in 1878. This courthouse was replaced in 1888 and that building demolished to make way for the present 1972 courthouse erected on the same site. Storm Lake is home to the Buena Vista County historical museum and also several historic houses. Buena Vista University is an independent institution founded in 1891 and has about 1,250 students.