Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Worthington, IA

Worthington is a small city in western Dubuque County in eastern Iowa, set on land originally purchased from the United States government by David Lovelace.

In 1858 an Englishman named Amos Worthington arrived to open a general store, the town plat was filed with the Dubuque County recorder that year, and by November 1858 the settlement was known as the village of Worthington.

Regular rail service reached Worthington by May 1859 on the Dubuque South-Western Railroad, the local branch of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul lines running from Farley toward Cedar Rapids.

St. Paul's Catholic Church was begun in Worthington in 1868 after Father Kortenkamp of St. Francis parish in Dyersville judged the village large enough for its own parish.

Worthington incorporated after a special election on January 2, 1893 in which just 42 votes were cast — 32 for incorporation and 10 against; its formal incorporation date was fixed as January 10, 1893.

The 2020 census counted 382 people in Worthington living in 153 households, almost identical to the 381 counted in 2000.

The town's population peaked at 439 in the 1990 census.

Iowa Highway 136 passes through Worthington, which sits north of Cascade and south of Dyersville.

Worthington lies in the Western Dubuque Community School District, with students zoned to Western Dubuque High School in Epworth; the town's own St. Paul Catholic School, started around 1874, closed in 2015.

NFL offensive lineman Matt Tobin, who played for the New England Patriots, comes from Worthington.