Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Services in Windsor Heights, IA

Windsor Heights is a small enclave city of just 1.41 square miles in the Des Moines metro, completely surrounded by Des Moines to the east, Urbandale to the north, Clive to the west and West Des Moines to the south.

Windsor Heights incorporated in 1941 after residents voted to form their own city rather than be annexed by Des Moines.

The city is named for early settler Henry Clay Windsor, whose family donated the land for the Windsor School, the brick schoolhouse that anchored the community for decades.

Coal mining built early Windsor Heights: the Urbandale Coal Company, Gibson Coal Mining Company, Keystone Coal Company and Des Moines Ice and Fuel Company all operated mines in the area between 1908 and 1942, and miners' families were among its first settlers.

Developer Charles H. Colby bought 160 acres of farmland here in 1915 and platted the area as Colby Acres, and his family later pushed to pave University Avenue, still the city's main commercial gateway.

The 2020 census counted 5,252 residents in Windsor Heights, up from 4,860 in 2010, and Census QuickFacts puts the city at roughly 2,229 households in recent survey years, with about three-quarters of homes owner-occupied.

Colby Park is the city's signature park, home to the Windsor Heights Community and Events Center, the annual Fall Festival and Windsor Wonderland, band concerts and movie nights, and it gained a splash pad and an accessible playground in a major 2024 renovation.

Windsor Heights has no school of its own named for the city; its neighborhoods are split between the West Des Moines and Des Moines public school districts.

Playing on its spot at the center of the metro, Windsor Heights calls itself 'The heart of it all' and marked its 75th anniversary in 2016 by proclaiming itself the middle of the region.

Walnut Creek runs along the city's south side, and the Windsor Trail and Walnut Creek Trail link Windsor Heights to the Clive Greenbelt and the wider Des Moines trail network.