Biohazard and Crime Scene Remediation in Callender, IA

Callender is a city in Webster County in central Iowa, created by the Des Moines Valley Railroad, which built its line between Keokuk and Fort Dodge from 1866 to 1870.

The town began under the name Kesho — it was the 36th of 38 stops the railroad spaced along the line, and Gurmond and Thora Bean had opened a store there by 1867-68, before the rails arrived in December 1869.

Kesho briefly vanished in 1870: a newspaper of the day reported the town had 'gone off on wheels,' as its horse barn, hotel and even its depot were dismantled or hauled nine miles up the line, leaving it 'inhabited by muskrats alone' before a new depot was built.

In 1875 the town was renamed Callender in honor of Agnes and James Callender of Brooklyn Heights, New York, who owned all the land on the west side of the tracks and much of the surrounding Webster's Prairies — and who donated land to the town for its churches, school, City Hall and City Park.

A post office operated in Kesho from 1873 until 1877, bridging the town's two names.

The 2020 census counted 368 people in Callender living in 158 households, and the town still retains much of its 1875 form, including the Callender family's donated properties.

Callender's population peaked at 446 in the 1980 census.

Callender belongs to the Southeast Valley Community School District, whose high school is in Gowrie; the district's elementary school sat in Callender itself from 1994 until 2010.

The entire city covers only about half a square mile — 0.52 square miles, all land — with the Union Pacific Railroad running along its east end.