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Balltown, Iowa

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1900 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Jefferson Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52073. The Survey maps it on the Balltown quadrangle. 79 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,204 feet above sea level.

Balltown within Dubuque County

Population over time

2 figures

Balltown grew from 68 to 79 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
201068
202079+11 (+16%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 16 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

1 since 2007

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Balltown in 2007, burning about 2 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
26 March 2007Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Dubuque County

Mines and quarries near this place

9 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Balltown: 8 past producers, 1 unknown. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Zinc, Lead, Lead, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Zinc. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Fitzpatrick MineZinc, LeadUnknownSphalerite
Fitzpatrick MineLead, ZincPast ProducerGalena, Sphalerite
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Mattloch QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Schmidt QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Sherrills Mound MinesLeadPast Producer
Dubuque SubdistrictZinc, LeadPast ProducerMISSISSIPPI VALLEY-TYPE LEAD-ZINC
Fitzpatrick MineZinc, LeadPast Producer
Sherrill Mound SubdistrictZinc, LeadPast ProducerMISSISSIPPI VALLEY-TYPE LEAD ZINC

Every working recorded in Dubuque County

Storms near this place

6 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Balltown in 6 storm reports between 1994 and 2024: 4 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2008FloodBalltown$6,400,000no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindBalltown$70,000A downburst/microburst occurred on a farm south of Balltown, Iowa. Part of a barn was destroyed and 30 trees on the property were downed. An additional 30 trees were downed in an area of timber just off the property.
August 1994Thunderstorm WindBalltown$5,000no account filed
June 2006HailBalltown$2,000Time estimated based on radar.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindBalltown-Emergency management relayed a report of 92 mph winds from a home weather station. Time estimated from radar data.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindOld Balltown-A 67 mph wind gust was recorded 3 miles west of Balltown, IA at 610 am CDT July 11. Widespread crop damage was also observed.

Every storm recorded in Dubuque County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Old Balltown0.7 miles16
Cameron1.9 miles16
Waupeton2.2 miles16
O'Neill2.2 miles15
Rickardsville3.9 miles15
Cottage Hill4.4 miles15
East Rickardsville4.5 miles16
Sherrill5.0 miles16

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on BalltownAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1947819The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 454338. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.