Emergency Crime Scene and Biohazard Cleanup in Wabasha, MN

Wabasha is the county seat of Wabasha County and one of the oldest communities on the upper Mississippi River — it has been continuously occupied since 1826 and was established as a town in 1830, making it Minnesota's oldest city.

Wabasha is named for a line of Mdewakanton Dakota chiefs named Wapi-sha, or Wabasha, meaning 'red leaf'; Wabasha III signed the 1851 and 1858 treaties that ceded southern Minnesota to the United States.

Wabasha was platted in 1854 and incorporated in 1858, when the final 'w' was dropped from its original spelling, Wabashaw.

The 2020 census counted 2,559 people in Wabasha in 1,172 households, with a strikingly old population — the median age was 56.0 years and 35% of residents were 65 or older.

Wabasha sits on the Mississippi River at the foot of Lake Pepin, near the river's confluence with the Zumbro River.

Downtown Wabasha's historic district contains more than 50 buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Wabasha is home to the National Eagle Center, and the open water below the Chippewa River mouth gives the area one of the largest winter concentrations of bald eagles in the Lower 48 states.

The 1993 film Grumpy Old Men and its 1995 sequel Grumpier Old Men are set in Wabasha — real local spots such as Slippery's Tavern and the VFW appear in the story — and the city holds a Grumpy Old Men Festival every February.

Grace Memorial Episcopal Church in Wabasha is Minnesota's oldest Episcopal church and features a Tiffany stained-glass window.

Students in Wabasha attend Wabasha-Kellogg High School, run by Wabasha-Kellogg Independent School District 811, and the city also has St. Felix Catholic School for pre-K through grade 6.