Biohazard Cleanup Near Downtown Leon Leon, IA

Leon is a city in south-central Iowa and the county seat of Decatur County, with a population of 1,822 at the 2020 census.

Leon became the county seat in a bit of frontier drama: because the original seat of Decatur City was cut off by floods, voters chose a new site, and when Decatur City residents refused to accept the result, the county records were stolen and hauled to the new town by ox-drawn wagon under cover of darkness.

The settlement was first named Independence, then South Independence after it was discovered that another Iowa town already had the name, before being renamed Leon in 1855.

Leon is named in honor of David Camden de Leon, a Jewish physician and soldier known as the 'Fighting Doctor' of the Mexican-American War era.

Leon was formally incorporated as a city in 1858 and grew as a shipping point on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.

The Decatur County Courthouse in Leon was completed and dedicated in 1908 at a cost of $70,000 and still serves the county more than a century later.

Leon covers about 3.18 square miles and sits just a few miles east of Interstate 35, roughly an hour south of Des Moines.

Leon is the second-largest community in Decatur County, behind only Lamoni, and Census Bureau survey estimates put it at roughly 800 households.

Leon is the headquarters of the Central Decatur Community School District, which covers over 60 percent of Decatur County and draws students from Decatur City, Grand River, Davis City, and Pleasanton.

The Central Decatur district operates three schools, all in Leon, and enrolls roughly 700 students, with over 95 percent of its students graduating from high school.