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Bancroft, Iowa

7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Greenwood Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50517. The Survey maps it on the Bancroft quadrangle. 699 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,181 feet above sea level.

Bancroft within Kossuth County

Population over time

2 figures

Bancroft fell from 732 to 699 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
2010732
2020699-33 (-5%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 7 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

9 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 9 fires within 5 miles of Bancroft between 2003 and 2019, burning about 65 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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/undetermined5
Debris and open burning3
Arson/incendiarism1

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
4 May 2009Debris and open burningunder an acreUnion Slough National Wildlife RefugeWEBER
9 April 2004Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresUnion Slough National Wildlife RefugeUNIT 2 WEST
6 April 2003Missing data/not specified/undetermined33 acresUnion Slough National Wildlife RefugeVP SOUTH WILDFIRE
29 April 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreUnion Slough National Wildlife RefugeREFUGE SOUTH
2 April 2003Missing data/not specified/undetermined4.0 acresUnion Slough National Wildlife RefugeB-POOL, AUTO-TOUR WILDFIRE
19 April 2007Debris and open burningunder an acreUnion Slough National Wildlife RefugeWEBER
16 April 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreUnion Slough National Wildlife RefugeUNIT 2 WF
28 March 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined15 acresIowa Wetland Management DistrictBLAZING STAR WF

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Kossuth County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Bancroft: 3 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Goche PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Kossuth County

Storms near this place

35 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bancroft in 35 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 20 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 2 lightning, 2 heavy rain. 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
May 1998Thunderstorm WindBancroft$500,000no account filed
May 1998Thunderstorm WindBancroft$250,000no account filed
September 1994HailBancroft$50,000no account filed
June 2008Flash FloodBancroft$25,000Black Cat Creek was flowing over Highway 169 and was under water between Burt and Bancroft.
June 1999HailBancroft$20,000no account filed
August 1995Thunderstorm WindBancroft$15,000A strong cold front began to move into the northwest corner of Iowa during the early evening hours. The air mass ahead of the front was very unstable. CAPE values were in the area of 4000 J-kg-1 with K indices around 40° C. and lifted indices around -4° C. Most of the dynamics with the system were to the north of Iowa, where indeed most of the severe weather occurred. Northwest and north central Iowa was on the south edge of the intense convection. Strong thunderstorms moved into the state during the mid evening hours. They produced high winds, heavy rain, and a small tornado. The tornado touched down in Emmet County west of Swea City. It caused little damage and was only on the ground briefly. High winds from the storm itself caused a lot of damage around the area. A grain bin was blown three quarters of a mile across a field just west of Swea City. High winds swept across Palo Alto County. Numerous trees and power lines were downed. The strongest winds occurred in Ruthven with 65 mph winds, and in Graettinger with winds around 80 mph. In Graettinger, the high winds downed a few buildings. There was other damage scattered around the area. A barn was leveled west of Emmetsburg. Other reports of damage to outbuildings and sheds were received across Winnebago and Palo Alto Counties as well.
July 2007Thunderstorm WindBancroft$15,000no account filed
July 2007Thunderstorm WindBancroft$15,000no account filed
May 1998HailBancroft$15,000no account filed
July 2012HailBancroft$10,000The ground was covered in golf ball size hail.
June 2007HailBancroft$10,000no account filed
June 1996LightningBancroft$8,000no account filed
June 2004Thunderstorm WindBancroft$5,000no account filed
September 2001HailBancroft$5,000no account filed
July 1994HailBancroft$5,000no account filed
May 2012HailBancroft$3,000no account filed
April 2011HailBancroft$3,000no account filed
July 2002HailBancroft$3,000no account filed
June 2001HailBancroft$3,000no account filed
May 2012HailBancroft$2,000no account filed
May 2012HailBancroft$2,000no account filed
July 2012HailBancroft$2,000no account filed
July 2000LightningBancroft$1,000no account filed
June 2025HailBancroft-Relayed via EM.
June 2024Heavy RainBancroft-Public report via social media of 5.25 inches of rain overnight.
June 2024FloodBancroft-US-169 northbound, Between County Road A38 and County Road P40 (2 to 3 miles north of the Bancroft area), areas of water over the road.
April 2022HailBancroft-Spotter reported hail half dollar to 2 inches.
July 2020HailBancroft-A report via social media of ping pong ball sized hail.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindBancroft-Trained spotter reported dime-sized hail with wind gusts over 50 mph which caused significant damage to beans and corn. Delayed report with time estimated via radar.
May 2012Heavy RainBancroft-Storm total of 3.20 inches since rain began around 1300 CST.
June 2010Funnel CloudBancroft-The funnel cloud was about half way to the ground.
April 2013HailBancroft-no account filed
June 2012HailBancroft-no account filed
June 2005HailBancroft-no account filed
August 1998Tornado (F0)Bancroft-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Kossuth 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
Gerled6.5 miles7
Burt6.6 miles7
Lone Rock7.7 miles7
Swea City8.1 miles7
Lakota8.8 miles7
Seneca8.8 miles7
Ledyard9.4 miles7
German Valley10.1 miles7

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 BancroftAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1833104The 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 454341. 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.