[2] The county is named for the Battle of Cerro Gordo, which took place during the Mexican–American War.

Cerro Gordo County is part of the Mason City, IA Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Cerro Gordo County was formed in 1851 and takes its name from the Battle of Cerro Gordo in the Mexican–American War, where General Winfield Scott defeated the Mexican General Santa Anna on April 18, 1847.

In 1851 the first white settlers came into the area of the present county and settled on Clear Lake.

Cerro Gordo County was the site of the airplane crash north of the city of Clear Lake, in which rock and roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, along with their pilot Roger A. Peterson, were killed on February 3, 1959.

[1] † county seat In September 2016 Cerro Gordo County supervisors voted to appeal the Iowa Department of Natural Resources's decision to approve construction of a hog confinement facility near Ventura, Iowa.

The Sheriff's Office provides law enforcement, performs investigations, executes legal processes such as writs, and is responsible for operating the county jail and for inmates in custody.

The tide in the county then shifted from 1932 to 2012, as the Democratic candidate won all but six elections in that span, four of which were nationwide Republican landslides in 1952, 1956, 1972, and 1980.

Whilst Mason City leans Democratic, the rest of the county is Republican.