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Dow City, Iowa

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1980. It stands in Union Township. It lies in ZIP code area 51528. It stands on Paradise Creek. The Survey maps it on the Dow City quadrangle. 485 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,142 feet above sea level.

Dow City within Crawford County

On record in Dow City

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

Dow City fell from 510 to 485 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
2010510
2020485-25 (-5%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 8 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

15 since 2009

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 15 fires within 5 miles of Dow City between 2009 and 2019, burning about 107 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
Debris and open burning7
Missing data/not specified/undetermined5
Equipment and vehicle use2
Recreation and ceremony1

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
31 August 2013Equipment and vehicle use4.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
31 August 2013Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
30 April 2019Debris and open burning1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
20 April 2019Debris and open burning30 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
16 April 2009Missing data/not specified/undetermined8.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
11 April 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined17 acresIowa Department of Natural Resources1724 UNION AVE, DOW CITY, IA 51528, IOWA
1 April 2013Debris and open burning7.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
4 March 2017Debris and open burning1.5 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Crawford County

Mines and quarries near this place

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Dow City: 5 past producers. 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Arion PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Ballantine PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Dow City PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Rogers PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Crawford County

Storms near this place

46 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Dow City in 46 storm reports between 1994 and 2021: 19 hail, 18 thunderstorm wind, 4 tornado, 4 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
June 1998Tornado (F2)Dow City$500,000no account filed
July 2010Thunderstorm WindDow City$30,000A shed was blown over in Dow City.
May 2008Tornado (EF0)Dow City$30,000Damage was done to a farm house with shingles removed and tree damage to the yard. Windows were also blown out of the house.
May 2008Flash FloodDow City$25,000Highway 30 north of Dunlap was flooded.
June 2008Flash FloodDow City$25,000The Crawford County Sheriff reported that Highway 30 was closed 2 miles southwest of Dow City due to flash flooding.
June 2008Flash FloodDow City$25,000Water was reported over Highway 30 between Dow City and Dunlap, possibly from the Boyer River. Report received from the county Sheriff.
June 2008Flash FloodDow City$25,000Water was covering Highway 30 from 1.5 miles southwest of Dow City to 3 miles southwest of Dow city. The state DOT was going to barricade the road.
July 1999HailDow City$25,000no account filed
July 2016Thunderstorm WindDow City$20,000Dow City Fire Chief reported several power lines down across town.
October 1994HailDow City$20,000no account filed
May 2011Thunderstorm WindDow City$15,000Trees were blown down across the highway and a shed was blown down.
May 2012Thunderstorm WindDow City$10,000Wind gusts of around 70 MPH caused tree and power line damage.
July 2010Thunderstorm WindDow City$10,000Winds estimated over 60 MPH bent crops over at a 45 degree angle along highway 30 just northeast of Dow City.
June 2001HailDow City$10,000no account filed
July 1999Thunderstorm WindDow City$10,000no account filed
July 1996HailDow City$10,000no account filed
October 1994HailDow City$10,000no account filed
July 2016Thunderstorm WindDow City$5,000Trained spotter reported several trees and tree limbs down. Time radar estimated.
August 2015HailDow City$5,000Public reported quarter to ping pong ball sized hail. Delayed report, and time estimated from radar.
May 2012Thunderstorm WindDow City$5,000A spotter estimated wind gusts of near 65 MPH with some tree damage.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindDow City$5,000Power lines were blown down.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindDow City$5,000Tree limb damage was reported.
September 2010HailDow City$5,000Dime to quarter size hail was partially covering the ground.
March 2007HailDow City$5,000no account filed
March 2007HailDow City$5,000no account filed
May 2007HailDow City$5,000no account filed
July 1999Thunderstorm WindDow City$5,000no account filed
May 1998Thunderstorm WindDow City$5,000no account filed
August 2007Thunderstorm WindDow City$3,000There to four inch diameter limbs were blown from trees by high winds.
June 2003Thunderstorm WindDow City$3,000no account filed
May 2011HailDow City$2,000Mostly nickel size hail with a few quarter sized stones.
May 2011HailDow City$2,000Nickel to quarter size hail.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindDow City$2,000no account filed
July 2003Thunderstorm WindDow City$2,000no account filed
May 1998Thunderstorm WindDow City$500no account filed
August 2021Thunderstorm WindDow City-Delayed report of several large trees down early Saturday morning. Time estimated via radar.
December 2021Tornado (EFU)Dow City-First tornado in the Des Moines forecast area for this record breaking event. This tornado remained in rural Crawford county with no reported damage. Tornado was determined by Correlation Coefficient depression on WSR-88D radar from KOAX.
May 2018HailDow City-Public reported nickel sized hail.
August 2014Tornado (EF0)Dow City-First of many tornadoes to occur on this day. Path was intermittent initially becoming more intense with time. There was video of the parent circulation but path and rating determined by high resolution satellite data.
May 2013Heavy RainDow City-Rainfall total was unknown, but street flooding was reported around Dunlap. Pea size hail was also reported.
August 2014HailDow City-no account filed
August 2011HailDow City-no account filed
September 2010HailDow City-no account filed
September 2010HailDow City-no account filed
May 2007HailDow City-no account filed
September 2004HailDow City-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Crawford 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
Bell (historical)2.0 miles8
Arion2.1 miles8
Haley3.7 miles8
Buck Grove5.2 miles8
Kenwood5.6 miles8
Kimze7.1 miles8
Sunset Village8.1 miles8
Denison9.6 miles8

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 Dow CityAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1873381The 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 455969. 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.