Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Hedrick, IN

Hedrick is a small unincorporated community and census-designated place in Jordan Township, Warren County, Indiana, set on flat, open farmland about two miles east of the Illinois state line.

The town of Hedrick began on July 31, 1881, when it was platted by Parmenas G. Smith and G. W. Compton; its first house was built by John Hendricks and its first store was opened by Zarse & Ahrens.

Hedrick's post office was established on January 14, 1880 — actually before the town was platted — and it served the community for nearly eight decades until it closed on January 31, 1959.

In its early years Hedrick had a drug store operated by Frank Hartman and a schoolhouse erected in the early 1880s.

On April 17, 1922, a tornado nearly destroyed Hedrick, cutting a path an eighth of a mile wide through town that killed four residents, destroyed six homes and ten businesses, and left only three buildings intact.

Counting the surrounding countryside, the 1922 tornado killed 11 people and injured 35, and newspapers estimated that between ten and fifty thousand sightseers flocked to view the destruction, prompting Indiana's governor to deploy part of the state militia to control the crowds and prevent looting.

The 2020 census counted just 67 people in Hedrick, packed into a census-designated area of only 0.039 square miles at an elevation of about 702 feet.

Before the town was founded, a wooded site called Hedrick's Grove stood east of nearby Redwood Creek; today Hedrick sits at the intersection of County Roads 900 West and 100 South, about 11 miles west of the county seat of Williamsport, and its children attend the Metropolitan School District of Warren County.