Emergency Crime Scene and Biohazard Cleanup in Wellman, IA

Wellman is named for Joseph Edward Wellman, who in July 1879 provided 40 acres of his farmland for railroad construction, including lots for development near the depot.

Settlement near Wellman began earlier along the English River at Wassonville, surveyed and platted in 1848, and its flood-prone residents later founded Dayton (renamed Daytonville by the post office in 1878) on higher ground — but the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway depot shifted the area's trade to Wellman.

The City of Wellman was incorporated in 1885, completed a city water system in 1896, and saw its railway become part of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad in 1903.

In February 1902 a fire destroyed the east side of Wellman's Main Street, severely testing the volunteer fire department that had been established in 1893.

The 2020 census counted 1,524 people in Wellman in 589 households, an 8.2% increase over 2010 and the city's largest population ever recorded.

Wellman is part of the Iowa City metropolitan area, and the University of Iowa campus in Iowa City is about 25 miles away.

Mid-Prairie High School and West Elementary School are located in Wellman as part of the Mid-Prairie Community School District, and the private Hillcrest Academy Christian school sits northeast of town.

Wellman has two municipal parks — North Park, with lighted tennis courts, lighted baseball diamonds, a YMCA and a band shelter, and South Park along Smith Creek, used extensively for horse shows.

Wellman has one of the few remaining golf courses with sand greens.

Wellman's motto is 'A Town That Cares,' its weekly newspaper is the Wellman Advance, and the English River winds just north of town, offering canoeing, hiking and bird watching.