Crime Scene and Trauma Cleanup in Stites, ID

Stites is a city in Idaho County, Idaho, and it had a population of 171 at the 2020 census, down from 221 in 2010.

Stites sits in the lower canyon of the South Fork of the Clearwater River, about four miles upstream and south of Kooskia on State Highway 13.

The city was named for Jacob Stites of New Jersey, who homesteaded the land in 1897 and, after selling it two years later, exercised his option to name the town.

Stites became the eastern terminus of the Northern Pacific branch line up the Clearwater in 1900, later the Camas Prairie Railroad's first subdivision line, and the city was incorporated in early 1905.

The abandoned railroad spur was removed in the 1980s, ending Stites' era as a rail terminus.

The original 1911 highway bridge that crossed the Salmon River just north of Riggins was replaced in 1936 and moved fifty miles north to Stites.

Stites covers just 0.10 square miles at an elevation of 1,316 feet, making it one of the smallest incorporated cities in Idaho by area.

The city's population peaked at 317 in 1920 and has declined in most decades since, falling from 221 in 2010 to 171 in 2020.

At the 2010 census, Stites had 103 households with an average household size of 2.15 and a median age of 47.1 years.

Stites is in the Pacific Time Zone, and its ZIP code is 83552.