Benson, Iowa
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Cedar Falls Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50613. The Survey maps it on the New Hartford quadrangle.
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 9 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1954 USGS Waterloo quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1955 USGS Waterloo quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1971 USGS New Hartford quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Waverly quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
2 since 2002Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Benson in 2002, burning about 1 acre 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 |
|---|---|
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 June 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Iowa State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
| 23 March 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Iowa State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Benson: 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.
Storms near this place
34 since 2007Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Benson in 34 storm reports between 2007 and 2013: 33 flood, 1 tornado. The reports record 20 injuries. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2008 | Tornado (EF2) | Benson | 20 hurt, $25,000,000 | Tornado moved in from Butler County and became very broad as it headed toward Fairbank. Tornado lifted on the Buchanan County border. |
| June 2008 | Flood | Benson | $2,000,000 | no account filed |
| June 2013 | Flood | Benson | $500,000 | no account filed |
| June 2013 | Flood | Benson | $500,000 | no account filed |
| May 2013 | Flood | Benson | $500,000 | no account filed |
| May 2013 | Flood | Benson | $500,000 | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Flood | Benson | $500,000 | no account filed |
| June 2013 | Flood | Benson | $250,000 | no account filed |
| June 2013 | Flood | Benson | $250,000 | no account filed |
| May 2013 | Flood | Benson | $250,000 | no account filed |
| May 2013 | Flood | Benson | $250,000 | no account filed |
| April 2008 | Flood | Benson | $200,000 | no account filed |
| April 2008 | Flood | Benson | $150,000 | no account filed |
| March 2011 | Flood | Benson | $100,000 | no account filed |
| March 2010 | Flood | Benson | $100,000 | no account filed |
| March 2010 | Flood | Benson | $100,000 | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Flood | Benson | $100,000 | no account filed |
| March 2011 | Flood | Benson | $75,000 | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Flood | Benson | $50,000 | no account filed |
| July 2010 | Flood | Benson | $50,000 | no account filed |
| March 2008 | Flood | Benson | $50,000 | no account filed |
| August 2007 | Flood | Benson | $50,000 | no account filed |
| August 2007 | Flood | Benson | $50,000 | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Flood | Benson | $25,000 | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Flood | Benson | $25,000 | no account filed |
| April 2008 | Flood | Benson | $10,000 | Butler Rd was closed just south of Beaver Valley Rd. |
| November 2009 | Flood | Benson | $10,000 | no account filed |
| April 2008 | Flood | Benson | $10,000 | no account filed |
| April 2008 | Flood | Benson | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 2013 | Flood | Benson | - | no account filed |
| June 2013 | Flood | Benson | - | no account filed |
| April 2011 | Flood | Benson | - | no account filed |
| July 2010 | Flood | Benson | - | no account filed |
| May 2009 | Flood | Benson | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norris Siding | 3.3 miles | 12 | |
| North Cedar | 4.7 miles | 12 | |
| Cedar Falls | 5.2 miles | 12 | |
| Cedar City | 5.4 miles | 12 | |
| Finchford | 5.8 miles | 9 | |
| Lamplighter Villa | 6.5 miles | 12 | |
| Castle Hill | 8.0 miles | 12 | |
| Cedar Falls Junction | 9.4 miles | 10 |
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 Benson | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q115473411 | The 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 464458. 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.



