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Birmingham, Iowa

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1958 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Union Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52535. The Survey maps it on the Fairfield South quadrangle. 367 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 755 feet above sea level.

Birmingham within Van Buren County

Population over time

2 figures

Birmingham fell from 448 to 367 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
2010448
2020367-81 (-18%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 11 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

4 since 2001

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Birmingham between 2001 and 2017, burning about 221 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/undetermined2
Smoking1
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
27 March 2007Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
11 March 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined10 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
17 February 2017Smoking150 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
12 November 2001Arson/incendiarism60 acresIowa State Fire Marshal's Officenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Van Buren County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Birmingham: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Miller QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Van Buren County

Storms near this place

20 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Birmingham in 20 storm reports between 2000 and 2024: 11 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 1 tornado. 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 2003Tornado (F0)Birmingham$100,000no account filed
July 2008Thunderstorm WindBirmingham$5,000Wind gusts estimated to be 65 mph blew down numerous trees and power lines in Birmingham, IA at 637 pm July 27. A power outage was also observed.
March 2006HailBirmingham$4,000no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindBirmingham$2,000Power lines down.
May 2017Thunderstorm WindBirmingham$500The county emergency manager reported a tree was blown down in Birmingham onto a power line and another tree was downed onto Highway J16.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindBirmingham$500Hay rack blown into ditch just east of highway 1
May 2024Thunderstorm WindBirmingham-Siding on home damaged and tree branches blown down. The time was based on radar data.
May 2023Thunderstorm WindBirmingham-Tree blown down.
April 2019HailBirmingham-A public report of dime to nickel size hail.
May 2017HailBirmingham-Spotter reported a few stones up to the size of quarters.
May 2017Thunderstorm WindBirmingham-A trained spotter reported wind gusts up to 60 MPH.
May 2014Thunderstorm WindBirmingham-Wind gusts estimated to be 60 mph were observed in Birmingham, IA at 427 pm CDT May 12. In addition, heavy rainfall reduced visibility to near zero.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindBirmingham-Wind gusts estimated to be 60 mph blew down some branches in Birmingham, IA around 622 pm June 23.
June 2008HailBirmingham-A spotter estimated hail the size of nickels which fell for 3 minutes 1 mile south of Birmingham.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindBirmingham-Winds estimated to be 60 mph pushed a truck across a parking lot in Birmingham, IA.
March 2006HailBirmingham-Dime to nickel sized hail for 5 minutes.
March 2006HailBirmingham-dime size hail; estimated 40 to 50 mph winds
September 2000Thunderstorm WindBirmingham-Three power lines were blown down.
May 2017HailBirmingham-no account filed
May 2017HailBirmingham-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Van Buren 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
Parksville (historical)1.3 miles11
Winchester3.2 miles11
Kilbourn5.2 miles11
Stockport6.1 miles11
Mount Zion6.3 miles11
Utica7.4 miles11
Douds7.9 miles7
Leando8.1 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 BirminghamAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1922603The 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 454645. 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.