Calamus, Iowa
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Olive Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52729. The Survey maps it on the Wheatland quadrangle. 356 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 699 feet above sea level.
On record in Calamus
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 2 records
George Johnson Houselisted 2000
Kvindherred Lutheran Church, School and Cemeterylisted 2000
Population over time
2 figuresCalamus fell from 439 to 356 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 439 | |
| 2020 | 356 | -83 (-19%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 15 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.
- 1892 USGS Wheatland quadrangle1:62500
- 1894 USGS Wheatland quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1901 USGS Rock Island quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1910 USGS Rock Island quadrangle1:125000
- 1953 USGS Wheatland quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000
- 1984 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1991 USGS Wheatland quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
1 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Calamus in 2008, burning about 3 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/undetermined | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 November 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Calamus: 4 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old Rr M Jacobsn Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
19 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Calamus in 19 storm reports between 1995 and 2020: 8 hail, 8 thunderstorm wind, 2 funnel cloud, 1 lightning. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 1995 | Hail | Calamus | $250,000 | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Calamus | $5,000 | Wind gusts estimated to be 60 mph blew some shingles off of some roofs about 2 miles south southwest of Calamus, IA at 706 pm June 18. |
| July 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Calamus | $5,000 | Wind gusts estimated to be 70 mph blew down several trees and utility poles in Calamus, IA around 900 pm July 24. |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Calamus | $2,000 | trees and power lines down |
| June 2006 | Lightning | Calamus | $2,000 | Fascia off a building with bricks laying all over with a power feeder line on the ground |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Calamus | - | A large tree was blown down in Calamus, blocking a roadway. |
| April 2017 | Hail | Calamus | - | This report was relayed via broadcast media (KWQC). The time of the event was estimated using radar. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Calamus | - | A public drone video showed that two apparent severe thunderstorm down-bursts had damaged corn in a field south of Calamus. |
| July 2015 | Hail | Calamus | - | Hail the size of golf balls fell, along with a few that were a little smaller than a tennis ball. |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Calamus | - | A trained spotter reported trees down all over town along with shingles blown off roofs. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Calamus | - | Wind gusts estimated to be 65 mph blew down some 6 inch diameter tree limbs about 2 miles south southwest of Calamus, IA at 142 pm June 18. |
| May 2001 | Funnel Cloud | Calamus | - | Reported by public. |
| June 2001 | Funnel Cloud | Calamus | - | Reported by public. |
| July 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Calamus | - | Tree blown down on a house. Reported by law enforcement. |
| June 2015 | Hail | Calamus | - | no account filed |
| June 2015 | Hail | Calamus | - | no account filed |
| July 2015 | Hail | Calamus | - | no account filed |
| July 2015 | Hail | Calamus | - | no account filed |
| July 2015 | Hail | Calamus | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wheatland | 4.3 miles | 15 | |
| Grand Mound | 5.8 miles | 15 | |
| Buena Vista | 5.9 miles | 18 | |
| Bliedorn | 6.8 miles | 13 | |
| Toronto | 7.8 miles | 13 | |
| Lost Nation | 10.0 miles | 13 | |
| North Welton | 10.1 miles | 14 | |
| Welton | 10.3 miles | 14 |
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 Calamus | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q739891 | 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 455040. 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.









