Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Codell, KS

Codell is a census-designated place in Rooks County in north-central Kansas, lying along Paradise Creek south of Stockton, the county seat.

Codell was founded in 1887 as a Union Pacific Railroad depot after the railroad could not reach agreement with the neighboring town of Motor; the post office, first established as Floreyville in 1875, was moved to Codell in 1888, Motor's frame buildings were hauled to the new townsite, and Motor was soon abandoned.

Early Codell had a school, multiple churches and a business district with a bank, a telephone central office, a lumber yard, a grain elevator, several stores, a doctor and a barber.

Codell is famous for being hit by tornadoes on the exact same date - May 20 - in three consecutive years, a streak strange enough to earn the community a mention in Ripley's Believe It or Not!

The May 20, 1916 tornado, rated F2, passed east of Codell, and the May 20, 1917 tornado, rated F3, passed west of town; on May 20, 1918, an F4 tornado struck Codell directly just after dark, completely destroying the school, the Methodist Episcopal church, the hotel and several residences.

The 1918 storm killed nine people and injured 65 along its path through the region, though no one in Codell itself was killed; for years afterward residents treated May 20 as "Cyclone Day" and stayed close to their storm cellars on that date.

No tornado has struck Codell since 1918, and in 2018 the community dedicated a Cyclone Day Memorial on the 100th anniversary of the last May 20 cyclone.

The 2020 census counted just 49 people in Codell, in 16 households and 11 families.

Codell's historic limestone school and Cougar Gymnasium were built in 1938 as a WPA project; Codell High School, home of the Cougars, closed through school unification in 1965, and Codell students now attend Plainville USD 270 schools.

A Codell church built in 1908 withstood all three May 20 tornadoes, and the view of the Saline Valley from King Hill, four miles south of Codell, was used in the closing scene of the film Paper Moon.