Emergency Crime Scene and Biohazard Cleanup in Tightwad, MO

Tightwad is a village in Henry County, Missouri, located along Missouri Route 7 near Truman Reservoir.

The community was originally called Edgewood, after the woods near the original town site.

Local legend says the name 'Tightwad' came from a dispute in which a store owner charged a postman an extra 50 cents for a better watermelon — some versions of the story involve a rooster instead — and the angry postman had the post office renamed Tightwad in revenge.

Tightwad remained unincorporated until 1984, although a post office had existed there since around the turn of the 20th century.

The first Tightwad Bank opened in 1984 as a branch of the Citizens Bank of Windsor, and publicity over the village's name drew more than $2 million in deposits from people who wanted bank accounts and checks bearing the Tightwad name.

Thanks to its proximity to Truman Reservoir, Tightwad saw modest growth beginning in the mid-1980s, and its small business district long included a bank, a café, a tavern, and a convenience store, though the bank had closed by 2019.

The 2020 census counted 58 people in Tightwad.

The 2010 census recorded 69 people living in 31 households in the village.