Centralia, Iowa
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1901 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Center Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52068. The Survey maps it on the Peosta quadrangle. 116 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,135 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresCentralia fell from 134 to 116 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 | 134 | |
| 2020 | 116 | -18 (-13%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 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.
- 1901 USGS Peosta quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1959 USGS Dubuque quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Dubuque quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Dubuque quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1966 USGS Peosta quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1976 USGS Dubuque quadrangle1:250000
- 1984 USGS Dubuque South quadrangle1:100000, 4 printings
Fires near this place
23 since 2007Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 23 fires within 5 miles of Centralia between 2007 and 2018, burning about 56 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 | 13 |
| Debris and open burning | 8 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 June 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 16 June 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 9 April 2014 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 8 April 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 25 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 17 April 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 16 April 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 15 April 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.8 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
9 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Centralia: 8 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Phosphorus-Phosphates. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creek Bank | Phosphorus-Phosphates | Past Producer | ||
| Roadcut | Phosphorus-Phosphates | Past Producer | ||
| Roadcut | Phosphorus-Phosphates | Past Producer | ||
| Twin Springs Quarry | Phosphorus-Phosphates | Past Producer | ||
| Kemp Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Treester Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
5 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Centralia in 5 storm reports between 1997 and 2026: 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood, 1 hail. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Centralia | $6,000 | no account filed |
| September 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Centralia | $1,000 | A state official reported that a highway sign was down at the Sundown Ski Resort. The report was delayed. |
| March 2026 | Hail | Centralia | - | A trained spotter reported lots of nickel to quarter size hail. |
| May 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Centralia | - | The emergency manager reported wires were down along old highway road near Hilldale Lane west of the fairgrounds. |
| June 2016 | Flash Flood | Centralia | - | Flash flooding was reported by spotters in an around the city of Dubuque, and surrounding rural areas near creeks. Catfish creek, southwest of the city of Dubuque was reported well out of its banks and rapidly flowing. Spotters remarked that they had not seen it this high before. Reported rainfall in Dubuque county, the evening of June 14, was 3 to 5 inches. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peosta | 1.7 miles | 15 | |
| Graf | 2.3 miles | 15 | |
| Lattnerville | 2.6 miles | 14 | |
| Twin Springs | 3.0 miles | 16 | |
| Julien | 3.1 miles | 15 | |
| Lore | 3.7 miles | 16 | |
| Budd | 4.3 miles | 16 | |
| Kidder | 4.8 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 Centralia | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1944882 | 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 455332. 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.






