Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Armstrong, IA

Armstrong is a city in Emmet County in northern Iowa, near the Minnesota border, and it is the county's second most populous community after Estherville.

Armstrong takes its name from Thomas Armstrong, a trapper who came up the West Fork Des Moines River in 1856 and staked a claim in a grove - still known as Armstrong's Grove - but found the winter so harsh that he stayed only one season.

The town itself began in 1892 when the railroad arrived; the first locomotive came through that year and Armstrong was incorporated a year later, in 1893, dropping "Grove" from the original name Armstrong Grove.

Armstrong grew into a classic railroad farm town, peaking at 1,153 residents in 1980.

The 2020 census counted 875 people living in Armstrong, in 382 households, with a median age of 49.8 years - notably older than the typical Iowa town.

Armstrong students attend the North Union Community School District, created on July 1, 2014 by the merger of the Armstrong-Ringsted and Sentral districts.

Armstrong was the birthplace of John F. Thorson, a U.S. Army soldier who received the Medal of Honor for his actions in World War II.