Biohazard Cleanup Near West Deep River Deep River, IA

Deep River is a small city in Poweshiek County that shares its name with Deep River Township, which was organized on March 7, 1857.

Deep River was established in 1884 when the residents of Dresden - a town platted in 1856 about a mile to the east, where the Whitney brothers ran a store for some 20 years - moved to be beside the new Chicago and North Western Railway, leaving Dresden largely uninhabited.

The town of Deep River was incorporated in the summer of 1887; Horace Phelps built the depot and gave the railroad $1,500 to secure the location there.

Despite its name, Deep River was not named for deep water - the stream was named because it lies so far down in its ravine, with banks in places 20 feet above the water.

The 2020 census counted 249 people living in 103 households in Deep River.

Deep River's population peaked at 487 residents in 1920.

On May 14, 1970, the Deep River flooded to a record stage of 83.85 feet at the local stream gauge, an event assessed as a greater-than-50-year flood.

Deep River is served by The Record, a weekly newspaper started in town in 1899 that is an official newspaper for Poweshiek County.

The old Deep River-Millersburg school district closed its secondary school in 1992 and consolidated into the English Valleys district in 2009; Deep River students now attend the Montezuma and English Valleys districts.