Crime Scene and Trauma Cleanup in Lehigh, IA

Lehigh is a city in Webster County, Iowa, set in a valley on the Des Moines River — unusually for so small a town, the river divides it in two.

Lehigh began in 1855, when settlers named Reed and Wright set up a steam sawmill on the site; the settlement was first called Slabtown because slabs, the scrap edges of sawn logs, were used in its construction.

The town was later renamed Lehigh because its coal veins were compared to those of Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley.

Lehigh's two halves began as separate towns — Lehigh on the west bank and Slabtown on the east — and a 'Slabtown Traders' sign over the east-side playground still recalls those roots.

Coal built Lehigh: W. C. Wilson of Webster City opened a mine there in 1871 and formed the Crooked Creek Railroad and Coal Company, which had opened five mines by 1894.

Lehigh shipped 9,000 tons of coal in 1884, and in 1912 the town's United Mine Workers Local 855 counted 64 members.

Lehigh also became a clay town — its brickyards turned local shale into brick and drain tile, Lehigh Brick and Tile won the contract for Dubuque's paving brick in 1896, and a large clay sewer pipe factory operated in town until the 1980s.

At its peak in the 1920 census Lehigh had 1,090 people; the 2020 census counted 395 people in 188 households.

Dolliver State Park, Brushy Creek State Recreation Area and Woodman Hollow State Preserve all lie within a few miles of Lehigh.

Lehigh students attend the Southeast Valley Community School District, whose comprehensive high school is in Gowrie.