Town file
Clarence, Iowa
Clarence, Iowa (Cedar County, Iowa) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 277, "Sex, Family & Wire Handcuffs" (28 April 2022). Clarence, Iowa, sits in Cedar County in eastern Iowa, about 40 minutes from Cedar Rapids and two and a half hours from Des Moines.
- Town
- Clarence
- County
- Cedar County
- State
- Iowa
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 277
- Approximate location
- 41.886, -91.058
Episode 277 / 28 April 2022 / 167 min / full
Sex, Family & Wire Handcuffs
"Today we're in Iowa ... Clarence, Iowa ... This is in Cedar County, area code 563." about 0:04:41
The case: Murder of Tina Harper (December 26, 1984); Murder of Walter Adams (Halloween night, 1964). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2022
- Population
- 965
- Median age
- 51
- Median household income
- $42,574
- Median home value
- $126,900
- Two-bedroom rent
- about $733
- Cost of living
- 80
- Religious
- 44%
- Property crime
- ▼ about half the national average
- Violent crime
- ▼ about one-third under the national average
History, in brief
- The community was originally called Onion Grove because of the widespread growth of wild onions there. about 0:05:53
- The village moved to be closer to the railroad line, and that is when the name changed from Onion Grove to Clarence. about 0:06:51
- It was named after a Richard Gere who came from Clarence, New York. about 0:07:02
- Richard Gere had a store in the town with a man named Fish, called Fish and Gear, in a room above the Presbyterian church. about 0:07:30
- The place burned in 1865. about 0:08:58
- It was incorporated as Clarence in 1866. about 0:07:21
- The town motto is Clarence "welcomes you". about 0:05:23
The reviews read out
"A nice, clean, small town with a small eatery, a Casey's General Store and a bar and not much else; housing is cheap, $100,000 buys a lot of house and a big lot, and it is centrally located between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. The reviewer lived there about 10 years."about 0:10:08
4 stars
"The first city the reviewer lived in: very quiet, with courteous people; they plan to spend the rest of their life there looking after their kids because it is a really awesome place to raise them."about 0:11:41
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- West Liberty, Iowa24 miles
- Muscatine, Iowa32 miles
- Davenport, Iowa33 miles
- Bellevue, Iowa41 miles
- Earlville, Iowa43 miles
- Mineral Point, Wisconsin81 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.