50 Cents - Poweshiek County 125th Anniversary Montezuma, Iowa

Poweshiek County was organized by the Iowa territorial legislature in 1843, named after a Meskwaki chief whose own name translates roughly as "he who shakes something off." The 125th anniversary token was issued in 1968 through a local centennial committee — the kind of civic scrip common to midwestern county commemorations of the 1960s, when such pieces circulated briefly at local merchants as promotional currency during celebration weeks before ending up in desk drawers.

Montezuma, the county seat since 1845, had a population under 1,500 at the time of issue.