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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.

Franklin within Lee County

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 figures

Franklin 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.

YearPeople Change
2010143
2020131-12 (-8%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 12 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

13 since 2006

Regional 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/undetermined12
Debris and open burning1

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
21 April 2018Debris and open burning100 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
30 March 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined8.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
30 March 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined4.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
29 March 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined10 acresIowa Department of Natural Resources218 & 240TH ST., S OF DONNELLSON, IOWA
26 March 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
22 March 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined6.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
19 March 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resources2050 238TH ST., IA
19 March 2009Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Lee County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Donnellson QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Franklin QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Graner QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Hawkeye QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer

Every working recorded in Lee County

Storms near this place

4 since 1994

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
February 2014FloodFranklin$100,000Heavy 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 1994HailFranklin$5,000no account filed
March 2026Tornado (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 2019Thunderstorm WindFranklin-Pea sized hail and heavy rain also reported.

Every storm recorded in Lee 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
Donnellson3.3 miles12
West Point4.7 miles15
Jeffersonville (historical)5.3 miles15
Charleston5.4 miles12
Viele5.6 miles15
La Crew5.9 miles12
Bullard (historical)6.6 miles15
Pilot Grove6.7 miles11

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 FranklinAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1881006The 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.