Elk Horn, Iowa
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1980. It stands in Clay Township. It lies in ZIP code area 51531. The Survey maps it on the Elk Horn quadrangle. 601 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,345 feet above sea level.
On record in Elk Horn
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
- Jens Otto Christiansen Houselisted 1997
- Chris Larsen Houselisted 1991
Population over time
2 figuresElk Horn fell from 662 to 601 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 | 662 | |
| 2020 | 601 | -61 (-9%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 8 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.
- 1954 USGS Omaha quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Omaha quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Omaha quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1978 USGS Elk Horn quadrangle1:24000
- 1980 USGS Harlan quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
12 since 2010Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 12 fires within 5 miles of Elk Horn between 2010 and 2017, burning about 104 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 | 10 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 August 2012 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 3 April 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | 206 E HWY 44, KIMBALLTON, IOWA |
| 28 April 2013 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 25 March 2013 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 13 March 2012 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 10 March 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 1 March 2013 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 19 February 2017 | Debris and open burning | 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 Elk Horn: 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christenson Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
13 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Elk Horn in 13 storm reports between 1995 and 2022: 8 hail, 4 thunderstorm wind, 1 funnel cloud. 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 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elk Horn | $400,000 | Thunderstorm winds blew the roofs off of 5 downtown buildings and felled several large trees. Power lines were also downed and substantial damage to the town's grain elevator was sustained. |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elk Horn | $100,000 | Cement shed, barn, and machine shed destroyed. Another machine shed was also damaged. |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elk Horn | $20,000 | Machine shed destroyed. |
| April 2022 | Hail | Elk Horn | - | Broadcast Media relayed report of 1.75 inch hail. |
| July 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elk Horn | - | Trees and power lines were blown down. |
| April 2006 | Funnel Cloud | Elk Horn | - | A funnel cloud was reported by storm chasers and emergency management near Elk Horn. The funnel apparently never touched down. |
| June 2015 | Hail | Elk Horn | - | no account filed |
| September 2015 | Hail | Elk Horn | - | no account filed |
| September 2015 | Hail | Elk Horn | - | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Hail | Elk Horn | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Elk Horn | - | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Hail | Elk Horn | - | no account filed |
| July 1995 | Hail | Elk Horn | - | 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.
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 Elk Horn | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1916572 | 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 456294. 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.




