BlockColumbus City, Iowa
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1958 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Columbus City Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52738. The Survey maps it on the Columbus Junction quadrangle. 392 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 728 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresColumbus City grew from 391 to 392 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 | 391 | |
| 2020 | 392 | +1 (+0%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 7 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.
- 1958 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000
- 1970 USGS Columbus Junction quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Muscatine quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Columbus City: 2 producers, 1 past producer. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Limestone, Dimension, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbus Junction Underground Mine | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Fredonia Sand Pit and Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Wasson Quarry | Limestone, Dimension | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
19 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Columbus City in 19 storm reports between 1996 and 2026: 7 thunderstorm wind, 5 flood, 4 flash flood, 3 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus City | $2,000,000 | A trained spotter reported several limbs and trees were down in town. A few of the trees fell on homes. |
| June 2010 | Flood | Columbus City | $500,000 | Heavy rains during the third week of June resulted in the Iowa River at Wapello going above the moderate flood stage level of 22 feet on June 17 around 7 am. After briefly falling below the moderate flood stage, it crested around 23.9 feet around 7 am June 25. It fell below the moderate flood stage level around 1 pm June 27. |
| June 2009 | Flood | Columbus City | $250,000 | Heavy rains during the middle of the month resulted in the Iowa River at Wapello going above the moderate flood stage level of 22 feet on June 22nd around 3 pm. It crested around 22.4 feet around 1130 pm June 23. It fell below the moderate flood stage level around 130 pm June 23. |
| June 2009 | Flash Flood | Columbus City | $250,000 | Heavy rains have resulted in flash flooding in the vicinities of Grandview, IA and Columbus Junction, IA during the evening of June 21 and early morning hours of June 22. Significant flood waters were flowing over Highway 61 south of Grandview around 1051 pm June 21. Deep flood waters over Highway 92 near Columbus Junction, IA forced the closure of the highway around 1051 pm June 21. A water rescue was conducted on Highway 92 in Columbus Junction, IA around 1155 pm June 21 on two stalled vehicles. The flood waters were 1 to 2 feet deep and flowing fast. A trained spotter also contributed to this report. |
| July 2010 | Flood | Columbus City | $250,000 | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus City | $1,000 | no account filed |
| March 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus City | - | Measured by wind equipement. |
| July 2025 | Flash Flood | Columbus City | - | Law Enforcement reported that 175th street is closed between G36 and X17 due to water over the road from Short Creek. |
| December 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus City | - | A tree was reported down on a roadway 3 miles west of Columbus Junction. |
| May 2019 | Flash Flood | Columbus City | - | Highway 92 was damaged by flash flooding just west of Columbus Junction. The highway was cracked and needed to be closed. |
| July 2014 | Flood | Columbus City | - | Heavy rains across the Upper Midwest and eastern Iowa during the last two of weeks of June caused the Iowa river at Columbus Junction to rise above its major flood stage of 23 feet around 1030 AM on July 1 and fall below its major flood stage around 600 PM on July 7. The river crested at 23.60 feet from 6PM to 7PM on July 2. |
| May 2013 | Flash Flood | Columbus City | - | A trained spotter reported Highway 92 between Cotter and Columbus Junction had water flowing across it in many locations. One section had large debris washed |onto the highway that included railroad ties and logs. |
| September 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus City | - | Large tree limbs down. |
| March 2026 | Hail | Columbus City | - | no account filed |
| October 2024 | Hail | Columbus City | - | no account filed |
| August 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus City | - | no account filed |
| August 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus City | - | no account filed |
| April 2013 | Flood | Columbus City | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Hail | Columbus City | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Columbus Junction | 1.6 miles | 7 | |
| Hillsboro (historical) | 2.1 miles | 7 | |
| Lafayette (historical) | 2.1 miles | 7 | |
| Fredonia | 2.6 miles | 7 | |
| Bard (historical) | 4.8 miles | 7 | |
| Cotter | 5.2 miles | 7 | |
| Cairo | 5.7 miles | 7 | |
| Wyman | 7.0 miles | 7 |
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 Columbus City | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1934249 | 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 455544. 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.
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.