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Brayton, Iowa

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1993. It stands in Exira Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50042. It stands on Sifford Creek. The Survey maps it on the Exira West quadrangle. 143 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,207 feet above sea level.

Brayton within Audubon County

On record in Brayton

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 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Brayton grew from 128 to 143 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
2010128
2020143+15 (+12%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 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 2012

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Brayton between 2012 and 2017, burning about 168 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
Equipment and vehicle use2
Debris and open burning2

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
11 September 2012Equipment and vehicle use8.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
14 April 2014Debris and open burningunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
12 April 2014Equipment and vehicle use100 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
15 March 2017Debris and open burning60 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Audubon 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 Brayton: 2 past producers, 1 producer, 1 unknown. 1 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
Anderson PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Brayton PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Brayton PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Valley PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Audubon County

Storms near this place

18 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Brayton in 18 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 12 hail, 3 tornado, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash 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
December 2021Tornado (EF1)Brayton$75,000Tornado moved into Audubon county from Cass county. This tornado remained on the ground in rural areas of southeastern Audubon county. Damage was primarily to trees with one garage being destroyed east of Exira producing an EF1 rating.
December 2021Tornado (EF1)Brayton$50,000This tornado continued into Audubon county from Cass county. The tornado remains in rural portions of southern and central Audubon county. Most damage was to farm outbuildings, trees and power poles with EF1 the highest damage rating observed.
August 2002Flash FloodBrayton$50,000no account filed
May 2024Tornado (EF0)Brayton$10,000The tornado developed southeast of Brayton and moved northeast in rural southern Audubon County. The bulk of the damage done was to trees. There was also a TDS associated with this tornado on the radar. The tornado dissipated a few miles east of Exira.
May 1998HailBrayton$10,000no account filed
June 2014HailBrayton$5,000no account filed
May 1998Thunderstorm WindBrayton$5,000no account filed
May 2005HailBrayton$2,000no account filed
May 2005HailBrayton$2,000no account filed
September 2005HailBrayton$1,000no account filed
September 2005HailBrayton$1,000no account filed
March 2025HailBrayton-Relayed by who-tv.
April 2025Thunderstorm WindBrayton-Several trees damaged with pine tree trunks snapped. Time of occurrence estimated from radar.
April 2008HailBrayton-Dime to penny size hail was covering the ground.
June 2014HailBrayton-no account filed
June 2014HailBrayton-no account filed
May 2010HailBrayton-no account filed
May 2005HailBrayton-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Audubon 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
Oakfield1.2 miles11
Exira4.1 miles11
Hamlin8.5 miles11
Sharon9.7 miles11
Kimballton9.8 miles8
Nishna10.4 miles11
Kenfield11.1 miles9
Audubon12.0 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 BraytonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1934160The 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 454809. 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.