Biohazard and Crime Scene Remediation in Spillville, IA

Spillville was platted in 1860 by German settler Joseph Spielmann, and it owes its unusual name to a clerical error — it was originally named Spielville after its founder, but the name was misread and stuck as Spillville.

Spillville was settled largely by Bohemian, German, and Swiss immigrants, and it still has a strong Czech-American character in Winneshiek County in northeast Iowa.

The Czech composer Antonín Dvořák spent the summer of 1893 in Spillville visiting relatives of his friend Josef Jan Kovařík, and during that stay he composed his famous String Quartet in F, the 'American' Quartet, and worked on his Symphony No. 9, 'From the New World.'

Spillville's St. Wenceslaus Church, built in 1860, is the oldest Czech Catholic church in the United States.

The Bily Clocks Museum in Spillville displays intricately hand-carved clocks made by brothers Frank and Joseph Bily between 1913 and 1958, and it is housed in the same building where Dvořák lived during his 1893 stay.

Spillville's Inwood Ballroom, established in 1920, hosted celebrated touring musicians including Louis Armstrong, Glenn Miller, Guy Lombardo, and The Byrds.

The Turkey River runs through Spillville, and the town is known locally for its Independence Day fireworks display, held on the first Saturday in July.

Spillville had 385 residents at the 2020 census, living in 173 households — slightly up from 367 people in 2010, making it a rare small Iowa town that grew over the decade.

Spillville sits about 12 miles southwest of Decorah, the Winneshiek County seat, and covers only about 0.43 square miles.

Public school students in Spillville attend the South Winneshiek Community School District, while the town's St. Wenceslaus Center hosts part of the CFS Catholic School.