Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Readlyn, IA

Readlyn is a small city in Bremer County, part of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls metropolitan area, and it proudly calls itself the home of "857 Friendly People & One Old Grump!"

Readlyn was born with the railroad - the Chicago Great Western line between Waverly and Oelwein was built through in 1903, the townsite was laid out on the Ohlendorf farm, the first lots sold in March 1904, and a post office opened that same year.

Readlyn's unusual name comes from Read, the Townside Company representative who bought the land for the station - locals combined his name with "line" to get Readlyn, or so the town's founding story goes.

Readlyn was incorporated on February 1, 1905, less than a year after its first lots were sold.

The 2020 census counted 845 people in Readlyn living in 331 households, all packed into just 0.33 square miles - a density of about 2,571 people per square mile, unusually tight for a small Iowa town.

Readlyn's "Old Grump" legend began in 1904, when an unkempt elderly drifter stepped off a train, ignored every friendly greeting for about a year, and finally broke into laughter - earning the nickname that stuck to the town forever.

Since 1990, Readlyn has turned the legend into an honor: each June during Grump Days, the Readlyn Community Club crowns a resident aged 65 or older as the year's official Grump, starting with Sam Sickles in 1990.

The reigning Grump is a genuine local celebrity - expected at parades and community events, given a special hat and custom license plate, and tasked with writing a monthly column of positive news in the town newspaper.

The famous "857" in Readlyn's motto never changes, no matter what the actual census count says.

Readlyn's public schools are operated by the Wapsie Valley Community School District, whose high school is in nearby Fairbank.