BlockDowney, Iowa
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1894 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Springdale Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52358. The Survey maps it on the West Liberty quadrangle. 112 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 689 feet above sea level.
On record in Downey
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 2 records
Downey Savings Banklisted 1976
Downey Schoollisted 2019
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 11 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.
- 1894 USGS West Liberty quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1901 USGS Stanwood quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS West Liberty quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Iowa City quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
28 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 28 fires within 5 miles of Downey between 2006 and 2017, burning about 490 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 burning | 13 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 July 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 22 July 2012 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 6 June 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 26 June 2012 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 10 June 2012 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 7 April 2013 | Debris and open burning | 1.5 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 5 April 2014 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 5 April 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
3 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Downey in 3 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 2 tornado, 1 thunderstorm wind. The reports record 2 injuries. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 1998 | Tornado (F3) | Downey | 2 hurt, $1,750 | no account filed |
| August 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Downey | $60,000 | Storm entered Cedar County from Johnson County northwest of Downey. At the West Branch exit on Interstate 80 a loaded semi was blown over. Trees and power lines were downed in West Branch along with baseball sized hail 4 miles east of the town. A barn and outbuilding were destroyed just before Springdale on county route F44. Based on KDVN 88D velocity data, the last expected severe damage was done 4.6 miles southwest of Lowden. The co-operative observer in Lowden only reported a peak wind gust of 37 knots (43 mph) when the storm moved through. Estimated times (all CST) for the West Branch area are 2025 and 2042 for Tipton. |
| May 2024 | Tornado (EF1) | Downey | - | A tornado developed south of Riverside in Washington County, and moved rapidly northeast, following an intermittent path through southeast Johnson County, to near West Branch in Cedar County. The tornado destroyed an outbuilding southeast of Riverside, and caused tree and other outbuilding damage. The tornado was rated EF1 with maximum winds around 100 mph. Thanks to emergency management for assistance with this survey. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Centerdale | 2.8 miles | 12 | |
| West Branch | 3.8 miles | 12 | |
| Springdale | 6.0 miles | 12 | |
| Plato | 8.7 miles | 12 | |
| Cedar Valley | 9.3 miles | 12 | |
| Rochester | 10.8 miles | 12 | |
| Buchanan | 11.6 miles | 12 | |
| Cedar Bluff | 11.9 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 Downey | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q16964002 | 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 455974. 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.
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.