Biohazard Cleanup Near Downtown Lansing Lansing, IA

Lansing is a small city in Allamakee County in far northeastern Iowa, sitting on the west bank of the Mississippi River in the scenic Driftless Area.

The site of Lansing was first settled by W. L. Garrison in 1848; a post office followed in 1849, the town was organized in 1850 and surveyed in 1851, and it was incorporated as a city in 1867.

Lansing was named after Lansing, Michigan.

With an excellent steamboat landing, Lansing became the supply point for the rapidly growing region of northeastern Iowa and southern Minnesota, prospering from 1855 to 1890 as a shipping point for wheat, other grains and lumber.

The railroad reached Lansing in 1872, and the river town later became known for commercial fishing and for manufacturing pearl buttons from Mississippi River mussel shells.

Lansing had 968 residents at the 2020 census — fewer than 1,000 people, yet it was for decades home to one of the most important river crossings in the Upper Midwest.

Lansing's Black Hawk Bridge, named for Chief Black Hawk, opened on June 17, 1931, and was the northernmost Mississippi River bridge in Iowa — the only crossing for about 30 miles in either direction, carrying around 2,100 vehicles a day.

The Black Hawk Bridge was a privately built toll bridge at first, financed with $750,000 in locally raised bonds, and ice damage closed it entirely from 1945 to 1957 before Iowa and Wisconsin bought and repaired it.

After 94 years of service, the Black Hawk Bridge was closed in October 2025 and demolished by a controlled implosion on December 19, 2025; a roughly $140 million replacement bridge is expected to open in 2027, with a car ferry serving Lansing in the meantime.

Lansing's Main Street Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2014, and the Old Allamakee County Courthouse, built in 1861 when Lansing was the county seat, still stands in town.