Chelsea, Iowa
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Salt Creek Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52215. The Survey maps it on the Chelsea quadrangle. 229 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 781 feet above sea level.
On record in Chelsea
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
Chambers Ford Bridgelisted 1998
Population over time
2 figuresChelsea fell from 267 to 229 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 | 267 | |
| 2020 | 229 | -38 (-14%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 8 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.
- 1954 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:250000
- 1968 USGS Chelsea quadrangle1:24000
- 1969 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:250000
- 1984 USGS Grinnell quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
16 since 2004Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 16 fires within 5 miles of Chelsea between 2004 and 2020, burning about 712 acres in total. None started naturally. 6 were 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 |
|---|---|
| Arson/incendiarism | 6 |
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 June 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | DNR WILDLIFE |
| 8 April 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 30 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | TAMA |
| 5 April 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Port Louisa National Wildlife Refuge | MAPLE FIRE |
| 21 April 2020 | Debris and open burning | 40 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 21 April 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 10 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 2 April 2011 | Debris and open burning | 250 acres | Port Louisa National Wildlife Refuge | MORMON GROUND |
| 2 April 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | 2810 330TH ST., IA |
| 16 April 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 4.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Chelsea: 1 past producer. None of them 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
21 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Chelsea in 21 storm reports between 1993 and 2020: 14 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 1 tornado, 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2007 | Flash Flood | Chelsea | $100,000 | no account filed |
| September 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chelsea | $50,000 | Winds estimated at 60 to 65 MPH. |
| March 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chelsea | $40,000 | Emergency manager reported power lines down, house damage, and a barn blown down. |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chelsea | $35,000 | A corn crib was destroyed by high winds. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chelsea | $15,000 | A large tree was blown over in town. Sweet corn was also blown over. |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chelsea | $10,000 | Several 8 to 10 inch diameter limbs down. Corn flattened. |
| September 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chelsea | $10,000 | Five inch branches down around town. Winds estimated over 60 MPH. |
| August 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chelsea | $5,000 | High winds downed trees. |
| May 2003 | Hail | Chelsea | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 1993 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chelsea | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chelsea | $3,000 | High winds and small hail reported. |
| September 2000 | Hail | Chelsea | $3,000 | no account filed |
| September 2000 | Hail | Chelsea | $3,000 | no account filed |
| August 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chelsea | $2,000 | Trained spotter reported 60 MPH winds with 3 to 4 inch diameter branches down. |
| June 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chelsea | $2,000 | Wind continued to gust between 50 and 60 MPH at 1605 CST. |
| August 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chelsea | $1,000 | Trained spotter reported 3 to 5 inch diameter branches down. |
| April 1998 | Hail | Chelsea | $1,000 | no account filed |
| August 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chelsea | - | A trained spotter reported 90 mph wind gusts. |
| March 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chelsea | - | Trained spotter reported wind gusts to 60 plus MPH and quarter sized hail. |
| September 2000 | Hail | Chelsea | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Tornado (F0) | Chelsea | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Helena | 4.2 miles | 8 | |
| Haven | 4.9 miles | 8 | |
| Vining | 4.9 miles | 8 | |
| Long Point | 5.1 miles | 8 | |
| Redman (historical) | 6.1 miles | 9 | |
| Gladstone | 6.3 miles | 8 | |
| Elberon | 7.3 miles | 9 | |
| Tama | 10.2 miles | 8 |
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 Chelsea | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1933749 | 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 455368. 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.





