Biohazard and Crime Scene Remediation in What Cheer, IA

What Cheer is a city in Keokuk County, Iowa, whose cheerful name — an old English greeting meaning roughly 'how are you?' — regularly lands it on lists of America's most unusual place names.

The town was founded in 1865 as Petersburg, named for its founder Peter Britton, but the Post Office rejected the name because Iowa already had a Petersburg.

Civil War veteran Major Joseph Andrews suggested 'What Cheer,' possibly after the legendary 1636 greeting 'What Cheer, Netop' exchanged with Roger Williams at the founding of Providence, Rhode Island, and the town was officially renamed on December 1, 1879.

When the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway built a 66-mile branch into town in 1879, the What Cheer coalfield exploded into one of Iowa's most important coal-mining centers.

At the height of the boom the What Cheer Coal Company employed about 1,100 miners, and the town's population peaked at 3,246 in the 1890 census — more than five times its size today.

Coal country was rough country: in October 1884, 500 What Cheer miners struck for a half-cent raise per bushel, and in May 1891 about 1,000 miners walked out in a strike for the eight-hour day.

After the coal gave out in the early 1900s, What Cheer reinvented itself around the fine white underclay beneath the coal seams, and the What Cheer Clay Products Company, organized in 1911, built a $300,000 plant in town.

The town's crown jewel is the What Cheer Opera House, a three-story brick Masonic opera house completed in 1894 that still operates as a theater, seating 383 on the main floor and 217 more in its horseshoe balcony.

John Philip Sousa directed a concert on the Opera House stage on March 26, 1906, an event still commemorated by a plaque on the wall, and the hall later hosted acts including Guy Lombardo and Hank Williams.

The 2020 census counted just 607 people in What Cheer, living in 264 households — a quiet farm town a fraction of its mining-boom size.