Blood & Biohazard Cleanup Near Downtown Stuart Stuart, IA

Stuart is a city that straddles two Iowa counties — Lincoln Township in Adair County and Stuart Township in Guthrie County — and its Guthrie County portion lies within the Des Moines-West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Stuart got its start in the late 1860s when the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad was built through the territory, and it is named for Captain Charles Stuart, who helped bring the railroad to town and founded the city itself.

The settlement of Stuart was platted on September 29, 1870, and the city was officially incorporated on February 6, 1887.

Stuart had 1,782 residents in the 2020 census, living in 733 households and 457 families, an 8.1% rebound from 2010.

Stuart was actually bigger in the railroad age than it is today — its population peaked at 2,079 in the 1900 census.

Four Stuart buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places: the former All Saints Catholic Church (1910), the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad's Stuart Passenger Station (1869), the Masonic Temple Building (1894) and the Sexton Hotel (1907).

Stuart students attend the West Central Valley Community School District, which was formed on July 1, 2001, by the merger of the Stuart-Menlo and Dexfield districts.

Stuart was the hometown of Osborn Deignan, who received the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Spanish-American War, and of U.S. Army General William R. Peers, who presided over the Peers Commission that investigated the My Lai massacre.

College football pioneer Buck Shaw, who played on the first undefeated University of Notre Dame football team, also came from Stuart.