The region in which Greene County is situated is a part of the great "Louisiana Purchase", secured from France in 1803, during President Jefferson's administration. After the Black Hawk war, a strip of land extending fifty miles west from the Mississippi River was opened to settlement after May 1, 1833.

In 1849, Truman Davis, the first white settler of the county, located near where the village of Rippey now stands. The same year, Enos Buttrick settled at the mouth of what is now known as Buttrick's Creek, while Richard Hardin located near the mouth of the stream which has since borne his name. Messrs. Wood, Valentine and William R. Babb came in 1850 and located along the Raccoon River, while Josiah Bluncett, Thomas Greenup and John Barr settled farther up the river in 1850-51. Greene County was established in 1851 and named in honor of General Nathaniel Greene, of the Revolutionary Army. It was attached to Dallas County January 22, 1853. Prior to that, it had been attached to Polk County for temporary purposes. In 1854, there was a population of about 150, and the county was deemed populous enough to entitle it to regular organization. On August 12, 1854, William Phillips was commissioned county judge, William Brock, clerk of the district court, and Isaac D. Crumley, sheriff. The first official record of any description is dated August 25, 1854. . . .

(From "The Biographical and Historical Record of Greene and Carroll Counties, Iowa", published 1887.)