Grand River, Iowa
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1981. It stands in Richland Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50108. It stands on Sand Creek. The Survey maps it on the Grand River quadrangle. 196 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,017 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresGrand River fell from 236 to 196 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 | 236 | |
| 2020 | 196 | -40 (-17%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 7 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 Centerville quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Centerville quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Centerville quadrangle1:250000
- 1981 USGS Grand River quadrangle1:24000
- 1981 USGS Leon quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
3 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of Grand River between 2008 and 2018, burning about 84 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 | 2 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 April 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 22 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 80 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 30 March 2008 | 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 Grand River: 3 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand River Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Old Dekalb Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
31 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Grand River in 31 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 16 flood, 7 hail, 4 thunderstorm wind, 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2010 | Flood | Grand River | $100,000 | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Flood | Grand River | $50,000 | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Flood | Grand River | $50,000 | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Flood | Grand River | $50,000 | no account filed |
| May 2007 | Flash Flood | Grand River | $50,000 | no account filed |
| May 2007 | Flash Flood | Grand River | $50,000 | no account filed |
| March 2010 | Flood | Grand River | $25,000 | no account filed |
| March 2009 | Flood | Grand River | $25,000 | no account filed |
| August 2007 | Flood | Grand River | $25,000 | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | Grand River | $25,000 | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | Grand River | $20,000 | no account filed |
| June 2011 | Flood | Grand River | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Flood | Grand River | $10,000 | no account filed |
| July 2008 | Flood | Grand River | $10,000 | no account filed |
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Grand River | $10,000 | no account filed |
| November 2015 | Tornado (EF1) | Grand River | $5,000 | Tornado moved into Decatur county from Ringgold county. NWS storm survey then tracked the tornado across northwest Decatur county. A cattle lean-to was destroyed along with two other outbuildings damaged. There was extensive tree damage in a small area near the town of Grand River. |
| May 2010 | Flood | Grand River | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 2009 | Flood | Grand River | $5,000 | no account filed |
| December 2008 | Flood | Grand River | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 2008 | Flood | Grand River | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 2004 | Hail | Grand River | $5,000 | no account filed |
| September 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Grand River | $5,000 | no account filed |
| September 2001 | Hail | Grand River | $4,000 | no account filed |
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Grand River | $3,000 | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Grand River | $2,000 | no account filed |
| April 2001 | Hail | Grand River | $2,000 | no account filed |
| April 2009 | Flood | Grand River | $1,000 | no account filed |
| May 2025 | Hail | Grand River | - | Report relayed by broadcast media. Delayed report, time estimated by radar. |
| September 2015 | Hail | Grand River | - | Public reported nickel sized hail. Delayed report from September 17th. |
| April 2010 | Flood | Grand River | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Tornado (F0) | Grand River | - | 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.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kingston | 6.8 miles | 7 | |
| Decatur | 8.7 miles | 10 | |
| Van Wert | 9.6 miles | 7 | |
| Barrell (historical) | 9.8 miles | 10 | |
| Tuskeego | 10.6 miles | 10 | |
| Terre Haute | 10.7 miles | 10 | |
| Leon | 12.6 miles | 7 | |
| Weldon | 13.2 miles | 7 |
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 Grand River | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1933225 | 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 457027. 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.




