BlockBefore

Dickens, Iowa

7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Freeman Township. It lies in ZIP code area 51333. It stands on Pickerel Run. The Survey maps it on the Dickens quadrangle. 146 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,335 feet above sea level.

Dickens within Clay County

On record in Dickens

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

Population over time

2 figures

Dickens fell from 185 to 146 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.

YearPeople Change
2010185
2020146-39 (-21%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 7 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

3 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of Dickens between 2005 and 2012, burning about 148 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/undetermined2
Smoking1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
2 April 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Wetland Management DistrictWYATT
23 March 2012Smoking145 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
22 February 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Clay County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 15 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 15 workings within 5 miles of Dickens: 12 past producers, 3 producers. 3 still produce. 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Clay County PitsSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Norgaard GravelSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Spencer PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Stellish PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Clay County

Storms near this place

39 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Dickens in 39 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 22 hail, 11 thunderstorm wind, 5 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2012Thunderstorm WindDickens$5,000Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, and also damaged a roof.
April 2025HailDickens-Hail was mostly dime to quarter sized, but some stones were as large as ping pong balls.
June 2024HailDickens-Dime to quarter size hail fell, along with 1.35 inches of rain in 22 minutes.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindDickens-Numerous cottonwood trees were uprooted and powerlines down in the area. Winds were estimated from 65 to 70 mph.
July 2020HailDickens-Crop damage is an estimate from insured losses. Information provided by the United States Department of Agriculture.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindDickens-Winds estimated to around 60 mph accompanied ping-pong ball size hail.
July 2019Thunderstorm WindDickens-Tree limbs up to 4 inch diameter breaking.
July 2018HailDickens-Hail up to half dollar size along with strong winds broke windows in a home and stripped leaves from trees. Branches up to an estimated inch in diameter also broken from trees.
June 2016Thunderstorm WindDickens-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including a few branches blown down.
May 2012Thunderstorm WindDickens-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindDickens-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several branches blown down. The winds were accompanied by rainfall of 3.15 inches.
July 2010Thunderstorm WindDickens-Thunderstorm winds caused an unknown amount of tree damage.
June 2010Flash FloodDickens-Heavy rain caused flash flooding of several roads, including Highway 18 near the eastern county line.
June 2008Tornado (EF0)Dickens-A brief tornado caused no reported damage.
August 2005Thunderstorm WindDickens-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several trees blown down.
May 2004HailDickens-Large hail damaged vehicles and windows. The amount of damage was not known.
June 2004Tornado (F0)Dickens-A brief tornado caused no reported damage.
June 2004Tornado (F1)Dickens-A tornado damaged crops, trees, and power lines.
June 2004Tornado (F0)Dickens-A brief tornado caused no reported damage.
June 2004Tornado (F0)Dickens-A brief tornado caused no reported damage.
June 2003HailDickens-Large hail covered the ground. The hail, combined with winds gusting to 55 mph, damaged corn and bean crops ion the area, but the amount of crop damage was not known.
June 2024HailDickens-no account filed
June 2024HailDickens-no account filed
July 2018HailDickens-no account filed
August 2017HailDickens-no account filed
June 2008HailDickens-no account filed
August 2008HailDickens-no account filed
July 2006HailDickens-no account filed
June 2005HailDickens-no account filed
August 2005HailDickens-no account filed
August 2005HailDickens-no account filed
October 2005Thunderstorm WindDickens-no account filed
May 2004HailDickens-no account filed
May 2002HailDickens-no account filed
July 2002HailDickens-no account filed
June 2002HailDickens-no account filed
May 2001HailDickens-no account filed
August 2000Thunderstorm WindDickens-no account filed
June 1998HailDickens-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Clay County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Spencer6.4 miles8
Birchwood Estates6.7 miles8
Langdon6.8 miles7
Gillett Grove8.0 miles7
Greenville10.2 miles7
Fostoria10.4 miles8
Maclay (historical)11.5 miles9
Rossie12.0 miles7

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 DickensAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1913671The 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 455912. 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.