24/7 Biohazard and Crime Scene Cleanup in Red Oak, IA

Red Oak is the county seat of Montgomery County in southwest Iowa, located along the East Nishnabotna River and named for Red Oak Creek, whose banks were noted for their red oak trees.

The first settlers arrived in the 1850s, and in 1865 Red Oak became the county seat — the courthouse was famously towed there from Frankfort, seven miles away, during a snowstorm.

The present Montgomery County Courthouse was built in 1891 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Red Oak was incorporated on June 28, 1869, the year the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad arrived; the railroad renamed it Red Oak Junction on March 20, 1876, and although 'Junction' was dropped in 1901, the town still celebrates Junction Days every summer.

The 2020 census counted 5,596 people in Red Oak, living in 2,454 households, and the city holds more than half of all the residents of Montgomery County.

Red Oak was the home of Thomas D. Murphy, who with Edmund Osborn conceived the advertising art calendar in 1890; Murphy became the first person to successfully develop art calendars, and his Thos. D. Murphy Co. factory, built in 1905, is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Red Oak has an outsized military heritage: in the Civil War the area provided more Union troops per capita than any other part of Iowa.

At the Battle of Kasserine Pass in February 1943, 45 soldiers from Red Oak were captured or killed, and more than 100 telegrams arrived in the small town reporting local men missing in action.

In recognition of Red Oak's World War II sacrifices, a Victory ship was named SS Red Oak Victory; it survives today as a floating museum in Richmond, California.

Red Oak's 1903 railroad depot has been restored as the Restored BN Depot and World War II Museum, telling the story of the community's service in America's wars.