Emergency Crime Scene and Biohazard Cleanup in Rathbun, IA

Rathbun is a small city in Appanoose County in south-central Iowa, located about a mile west of where Walnut Creek meets the Chariton River and about two miles south of Rathbun Dam.

Rathbun was established in 1892 as a coal-mining town and incorporated in 1897; it was named for Charles H. Rathbun, a mine official.

At the end of the 19th century, the valley of Walnut Creek through Rathbun was one continuous mining camp, a string of coal camps known under the names Jerome, Diamond, Mystic, Clarksdale, Rathbun, and Darby.

The Rathbun Mine, operated by the Star Coal Company of Streator, Illinois, had an 82-foot-deep shaft, and by 1908 it was considered one of the best-equipped longwall mines in Appanoose County.

Coal dominated life in Rathbun so completely that in 1912 the town's United Mine Workers local, Local 372, had 213 members - close to half of Rathbun's entire population at the time.

Rathbun peaked at 630 residents in 1920 during the coal boom, but after the mines faded the 2020 census counted just 43 people living in 25 households.

Rathbun bills itself as the Gateway to Rathbun Lake - the dam just north of town impounds Rathbun Lake, a reservoir of more than 11,000 acres that is one of Iowa's largest lakes.

Children in Rathbun attend public schools in the Centerville Community School District, based in Centerville, the Appanoose County seat.

Rathbun has a hot-summer humid continental climate, and NOAA weather records for the town dating back to 1970 range from a record high of 106 degrees Fahrenheit to a record low of minus 28 degrees.