Map of Atalissa city

Atalissa is a city in Muscatine County, Iowa, United States. The population was 296 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Muscatine Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Atalissa city overview:
Name:	Atalissa city
LSAD Code:	25
LSAD Description:	city (suffix)
State:	Iowa
County:	Muscatine County
Elevation:	659 ft (201 m)
Total Area:	0.14 sq mi (0.36 km²)
Land Area:	0.14 sq mi (0.36 km²)
Water Area:	0.00 sq mi (0.00 km²)
Total Population:	296
Population Density:	2,129.50/sq mi (821.29/km²)
ZIP code:	52720
Area code:	563
FIPS code:	1903385
GNISfeature ID:	0454271

Online Interactive Map

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Atalissa online map. Source: Basemap layers from Google Map, Open Street Map (OSM), Arcgisonline, Wmflabs. Boundary Data from Database of Global Administrative Areas.

Atalissa location map. Where is Atalissa city?

Atalissa location on the U.S. Map. Where is Atalissa city. — Atalissa location on the U.S. Map.

Atalissa location on the Iowa map. Where is Atalissa city. — Location of Atalissa in Iowa.

History

Atalissa was platted in 1859. It was named by its founder, William Lundy, for a mining town in California, which in turn was named for an Indian queen Atalissa.

From 1974 to 2009 Atalissa was the home of a few dozen intellectually challenged men who worked in a nearby turkey processing plant. They lived together in an old schoolhouse and were taken each workday to the plant, and after expenses were taken out, were paid no more than $65/month. They were removed and relocated by state agencies in 2009, after being found to be living in unacceptable conditions. A 2013 verdict awarded the men a total of $240 million in damages, since reduced to $50,000/man. The men’s plight had a profound effect on social services in Iowa, and their experiences and subsequent court case was the subject of the documentary film The Men of Atalissa.