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Bonaparte, Iowa

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1958 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Bonaparte Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52620. It stands on Honey Creek. The Survey maps it on the Bonaparte quadrangle. 359 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 548 feet above sea level.

Bonaparte within Van Buren County

On record in Bonaparte

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 4 records

Population over time

2 figures

Bonaparte fell from 433 to 359 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
2010433
2020359-74 (-17%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 12 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 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Bonaparte between 2008 and 2014, burning about 25 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/undetermined3
Debris and open burning1

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
6 April 2014Debris and open burning1.5 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
17 April 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
12 April 2014Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
5 October 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined20 acresIowa Department of Natural Resources31827 HWY 2 FARMINGTON, IA

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Van Buren County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Bonaparte: 2 producers, 2 past producers. 2 still produce. 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
Anderson QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Camanche QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Dawson QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
UnknownStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Van Buren County

Storms near this place

17 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bonaparte in 17 storm reports between 1999 and 2024: 7 thunderstorm wind, 7 hail, 1 funnel cloud, 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
July 2003HailBonaparte$30,000Jct J40 & W40
July 2008Thunderstorm WindBonaparte$20,000Wind gusts estimated to be 65 mph blew down numerous trees and power lines near Bonaparte, IA around 655 pm July 27. A power outage was observed for most of the eastern half of Van Buren County.
July 2003HailBonaparte$20,000no account filed
June 2010Thunderstorm WindBonaparte$10,000Wind gusts estimated to be 70 mph blew a tree down onto a garage in Bonaparte, IA around 530 pm June 23.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindBonaparte$5,000Wind gusts estimated to be 65 mph blew down numerous trees and power lines in Bonaparte, IA at 650 pm July 27. A power outage was also observed.
June 2006Thunderstorm WindBonaparte$5,000numerous tree limbs down; roof blown off a feed shed.
February 1999Thunderstorm WindBonaparte$200no account filed
April 2024Thunderstorm WindBonaparte-An NWS Damager survey found several trees snapped.
August 2024Thunderstorm WindBonaparte-A trained spotter reported large tree branches down.
September 2022HailBonaparte-Reported through social media.
May 2021FloodBonaparte-Heavy rain resulted in several secondary county roads closed overnight. Roughly at 190th Street east of Yellow Avenue.
July 2021Flash FloodBonaparte-The Emergency Manager reports water flowing over a gravel road from nearby fields. When the water receded, piled up debris was left on the road .
February 2017HailBonaparte-A spotter reported pea to dime size hail.
June 2014HailBonaparte-Law enforcement reported golf ball size hail along with torrential rain.
June 2010Funnel CloudBonaparte-A funnel cloud was reported north of Bonaparte. Newspaper photographs also showed a large wall cloud, and witnesses described obvious rotation.
June 2006HailBonaparte-penny size hail in town
June 2024HailBonaparte-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
Palestine (historical)0.5 miles12
Lexington (historical)0.6 miles12
Vernon3.2 miles12
Bentonsport3.3 miles12
Plymouth4.4 miles12
Farmington5.1 miles12
Harrisburg5.2 miles11
Pierceville6.2 miles11

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 BonaparteAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1868362The 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 454744. 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.