Biohazard Cleanup Near Downtown Bertram Bertram, IA

Bertram's site was first planned in July 1838 under the name Westport by Israel Mitchell, making it the first village planned in Linn County.

Albert Henry opened Linn County's first store in Bertram in the fall of 1838, and the county's first election was held at that store.

The town was renamed Bertram in honor of Captain John Bertram, who was instrumental in bringing the first railroad to Linn County, and the railroad was completed to the town in 1859.

Bertram was laid out in 1858 as an outgrowth of the railroad and was incorporated on January 17, 1914.

Bertram is part of the Cedar Rapids Metropolitan Statistical Area and functions primarily as a bedroom community of Cedar Rapids.

The city sits on the Union Pacific Railroad main line near a large trestle over Big Creek, and the Bertram Bridge, which also spans Big Creek, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Bertram is close to Palisades-Kepler State Park, one of Iowa's popular state parks along the Cedar River.

The 2020 census counted 269 people, 113 households, and 96 families in Bertram.

Bertram has a famous census quirk: the 2000 census initially reported 681 residents, but the figure was officially revised down to 263 after officials discovered that 418 Cornell College dormitory students in nearby Mount Vernon had been wrongly counted as Bertram residents.

The city covers about 1.68 square miles of land in southeastern Linn County.