Delphos, Iowa
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1940 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Rice Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50860. It stands on Walnut Creek. The Survey maps it on the Benton quadrangle. 26 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,138 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresDelphos grew from 25 to 26 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 | 25 | |
| 2020 | 26 | +1 (+4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 13 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.
- 1940 USGS Blockton quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1943 USGS Blockton quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1955 USGS Nebraska City quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Nebraska City quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Nebraska City quadrangle1:250000
- 1981 USGS Benton quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Mount Ayr quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
2 since 2009Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Delphos between 2009 and 2011, burning about 101 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 | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 March 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | S END OF DNR MARSH BY BENTON, IA |
| 10 February 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 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 Delphos: 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
16 since 2003Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Delphos in 16 storm reports between 2003 and 2024: 5 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 3 tornado. 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 2010 | Flash Flood | Delphos | $250,000 | Highway 169 bridge closed just south of the 10 mile post due to scouring of water from the middle fork of the Grand River. |
| November 2015 | Tornado (EF1) | Delphos | $125,000 | This fast-moving tornado cut a 12 mile path through central Ringgold County, producing high end EF-1 damage at its peak. The beginning of the track was characterized by weak and intermittent damage, with the tornado strengthening and widening once it got north of IA Highway 2. Six farmsteads were hit along its track. |
| April 2024 | Tornado (EF1) | Delphos | $80,000 | This tornado developed in south central Ringgold County several miles east of Redding and travelled to the northeast. The tornado remained in the rural rolling landscape producing damage to trees and a couple of farmsteads. Most of the damage to houses was to siding and removal of portions of roofs. The tornado passed just southeast of Mt. Ayr Airport and dissipated to a few miles northeast of Mt. Ayr. |
| July 2008 | Flash Flood | Delphos | $50,000 | Highway 169 north of Mount Ayr was open, but remained closed south of Mount Ayr. Highway 2 was closed and County road P68 was closed north of Highway 2. Closures due to water over the road. |
| September 2010 | Hail | Delphos | $20,000 | Golf ball size hail with damage to vehicle and siding on the east side of a home. |
| September 2010 | Flash Flood | Delphos | $10,000 | Up to 6 inches of water was flowing over County Road J43 near Delphos. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Delphos | $5,000 | Emergency manager reported grain bin moved and damaged, as well as signs along the road bent over. This is a delayed report and time estimated from radar. |
| June 2015 | Hail | Delphos | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Delphos | $5,000 | no account filed |
| September 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Delphos | $3,000 | Six inch diameter tree branches were blown down by high winds. |
| May 2012 | Hail | Delphos | $1,000 | Mostly dime size hail with some quarter size. |
| April 2010 | Hail | Delphos | $1,000 | no account filed |
| June 2018 | Tornado (EF0) | Delphos | - | This tornado touched down in the hamlet of Delphos with tree debris being tossed around. A rather diffuse funnel for much of its existence, very little damage occurred with this tornado. The event was captured on video by a few different storm chasers. |
| August 2016 | Heavy Rain | Delphos | - | Emergency manager received report of heavy rainfall of 5.3 inches storm total. Exact end time of report unknown. |
| November 2015 | Heavy Rain | Delphos | - | Coop observer reported heavy rainfall of 1.70 inches over the last 24 hours. |
| April 2024 | Hail | Delphos | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benton | 2.9 miles | 13 | |
| Maloy | 3.9 miles | 13 | |
| Marshall (historical) | 4.3 miles | 13 | |
| Redding | 4.8 miles | 13 | |
| Mount Ayr | 6.6 miles | 12 | |
| Watterson | 7.0 miles | 12 | |
| Ringgold (historical) | 9.6 miles | 12 | |
| Caledonia (historical) | 9.8 miles | 12 |
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 Delphos | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1944834 | 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 455876. 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.






