Franklin, Iowa
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1958 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Franklin Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52656. It stands on Bonnell Creek. The Survey maps it on the Donnellson quadrangle. 131 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 696 feet above sea level.
On record in Franklin
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 figuresFranklin fell from 143 to 131 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 | 143 | |
| 2020 | 131 | -12 (-8%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 12 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.
- 1958 USGS Burlington quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1961 USGS Burlington quadrangle1:250000
- 1963 USGS Burlington quadrangle1:250000
- 1968 USGS Donnellson quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS Burlington quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1990 USGS Burlington quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
13 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 13 fires within 5 miles of Franklin between 2006 and 2018, burning about 153 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 | 12 |
| Debris and open burning | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 100 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 30 March 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 30 March 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 29 March 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | 218 & 240TH ST., S OF DONNELLSON, IOWA |
| 26 March 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 22 March 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 19 March 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | 2050 238TH ST., IA |
| 19 March 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Franklin: 2 producers, 2 past producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donnellson Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Franklin Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Graner Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Hawkeye Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer |
Storms near this place
4 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Franklin in 4 storm reports between 1994 and 2026: 1 hail, 1 flood, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2014 | Flood | Franklin | $100,000 | Heavy rains of 1 to 3 inches resulted in some flooding in and around Fort Madison, IA on February 20th. Two feet of water covered Old Highway 61 west of Fort Madison. Water was flowing down streets in town. The high school was flooded with water flowing into it through doorways. |
| April 1994 | Hail | Franklin | $5,000 | no account filed |
| March 2026 | Tornado (EF1) | Franklin | - | An EF1 tornado with max winds near 90 mph begun its 2.1 mile long path with damage to tree branches. The tornado then caused damage to some fascia on a house and then crossed into Wilson Lake Park where additional trees were downed. Some trees were uprooted with a couple of trees had their trunks snapped. Tree damage became more sporadic as the tornado continued east leading to minor tree damage through the remainder of its path. The max width was 50 yards. |
| May 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Franklin | - | Pea sized hail and heavy rain also reported. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donnellson | 3.3 miles | 12 | |
| West Point | 4.7 miles | 15 | |
| Jeffersonville (historical) | 5.3 miles | 15 | |
| Charleston | 5.4 miles | 12 | |
| Viele | 5.6 miles | 15 | |
| La Crew | 5.9 miles | 12 | |
| Bullard (historical) | 6.6 miles | 15 | |
| Pilot Grove | 6.7 miles | 11 |
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 Franklin | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1881006 | 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 456723. 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.





