Crime Scene and Trauma Cleanup in Sandyville, IA

Sandyville is a tiny city in Warren County, Iowa, that was laid out in 1851 and named for its founder, J. Moorman Sandy.

Although it was founded in 1851, Sandyville was not incorporated until 1905, more than half a century later.

Despite its small size, Sandyville is part of the Des Moines-West Des Moines metropolitan area, sitting about 22 miles southeast of Des Moines on Iowa Highway 92.

The 2020 census counted just 58 people living in 24 households in Sandyville, up slightly from 51 people in 2010.

Sandyville was a considerably bigger place in the 19th century - an 1865 Iowa gazetteer reported about 150 residents, four churches, and three general stores, and the 1910 census counted 120 people.

In the late 1930s, when the railroad came through nearby Beech instead, many Sandyville landowners reportedly loaded entire houses and moved them to Beech, shrinking the town further.

Sandyville made statewide headlines in 2007 when the nearly broke town - the Des Moines Register reported its net worth had dwindled to $826 at one point - narrowly voted at an emergency meeting to stave off bankruptcy.

The whole city of Sandyville covers only about half a square mile of Warren County land.