Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Humphreys, MO

Humphreys is a village in southwestern Sullivan County, Missouri, sitting at the intersection of Missouri Routes 6 and 139.

Humphreys was originally known as Haley City and was first surveyed in April 1881 by G.M. Garvey for the Stringer family, starting out as just seventeen blocks with 246 lots.

The town's name was changed to Humphreys in the spring of 1882, and lots in three-block and nine-block additions were added in January and May of that year.

Humphreys boomed as a stop on the Quincy, Missouri & Pacific Railroad, whose depot was built in August 1881; by the end of that year the new town already supported four hotels.

The Humphreys Milling Company, established in 1882, ran a steam-powered flour mill in a large three-story building that could produce up to twenty-five barrels of flour per day.

Humphreys College and Business Institute was established in 1884 on four acres donated by James M. Stringer and enrolled a reported 157 students by 1887, but the college building was destroyed by fire on April 8, 1893.

Humphreys' first post office was established in 1881 and has remained in continuous operation ever since.

Humphreys peaked at 450 residents in the 1890 census but shrank over the following century, and the 2010 census counted 118 people in 49 households.

The 2020 census counted just 89 people in Humphreys, and today the village is largely a bedroom community whose children attend the Grundy County R-5 school in neighboring Galt, a district created when the two towns merged their schools in 1966.