Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Quitman, MO

Quitman is a census-designated place in west-central Nodaway County, Missouri, and today it is unincorporated, having given up its city government in 2012.

Quitman was originally called Russellville and was first platted in 1856 by R. R. Russell, who also served as the town's first postmaster.

The town was later renamed Quitman in honor of John A. Quitman, a strongly pro-slavery former governor of Mississippi, leader of the Fire-Eaters, and a veteran of the Mexican-American War.

Quitman received its post office in November 1861 and was incorporated on February 8, 1881, when it was a stop on the Nodaway Valley Railroad, though the railroad no longer passes through town.

In April 1880 a disastrous fire burned nearly every building on Broadway, Quitman's main street, except for two business houses.

Quitman's population peaked at 356 residents in the 1900 census and then declined for more than a century, falling to just 42 people by the 2020 census.

The 2010 census counted 45 people living in 23 households in Quitman, with a median age of 44.5 years.

In November 2012, the Nodaway County Commission voted to disincorporate Quitman after local residents themselves asked for the town's incorporation to be dissolved.

Quitman was the hometown of John S. Bilby, founder of the Bilby Ranch, which in the early 1900s was the second-largest ranch in the United States.