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Griswold, Iowa

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Pleasant Township. It lies in ZIP code area 51535. It stands on Lone Tree Branch. The Survey maps it on the Griswold quadrangle. 994 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,102 feet above sea level.

Griswold within Cass County

On record in Griswold

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

Griswold fell from 1,036 to 994 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
20101,036
2020994-42 (-4%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 9 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

4 since 2009

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Griswold between 2009 and 2016, burning about 142 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/undetermined2
Debris and open burning2

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
7 April 2009Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
9 March 2014Missing data/not specified/undetermined15 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
21 February 2016Debris and open burning5.0 acresIowa Department of Natural ResourcesELLIOTT FIRE DEPT
15 January 2014Debris and open burning120 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Every fire recorded in Cass County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Griswold: 1 producer, 1 past 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Lewis QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
UnknownStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Cass County

Storms near this place

59 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Griswold in 59 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 26 hail, 22 thunderstorm wind, 5 flash flood, 5 heavy rain. 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
May 2007Tornado (EF2)Griswold$1,000,000Tornado touched down on the southern Cass County line and moved northeast. The last 2 miles of the track showed an intermittent nature. Average path width was 100 to 200 yards wide with a maximum width of about one half mile. Estimated wind speed was 120 to 130 MPH.
April 1994HailGriswold$500,000no account filed
May 2007Flash FloodGriswold$200,000no account filed
June 2017Thunderstorm WindGriswold$150,000The emergency manager reported several grain bins destroyed, a damaged machine shed, a damaged storage silo, several large trees uprooted or snapped off, and damage to a center pivot.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindGriswold$50,000Trained spotter reported numerous large limbs down in town. Some 1-2 foot trees snapped off, one landed on a house. Another landed on a camper.
June 2014Flash FloodGriswold$50,000Cass County Emergency Manager reported major street flooding in Griswold. Water was covering the car tires and up to 18 inches of water covered municipal roadways in places.
August 2007Flash FloodGriswold$50,000no account filed
August 1999Flash FloodGriswold$25,000no account filed
May 1998Thunderstorm WindGriswold$20,000no account filed
June 2014HailGriswold$15,000Winds of 50 MPH and small branches blown down.
April 2001HailGriswold$15,000no account filed
April 2001HailGriswold$15,000no account filed
May 2001HailGriswold$15,000no account filed
June 2008Flash FloodGriswold$10,000Water over the road at M57 and Highway 92 intersection.
July 2007Thunderstorm WindGriswold$10,000no account filed
May 2001Thunderstorm WindGriswold$10,000no account filed
June 2000Thunderstorm WindGriswold$10,000no account filed
April 2010HailGriswold$5,000Quarter size hail, combined with 50 MPH winds was reported.
April 2010Thunderstorm WindGriswold$5,000Nickel size hail also fell with the high winds.
September 2010HailGriswold$5,000Quarter to ping pong ball size hail reported by a trained spotter.
August 2004Thunderstorm WindGriswold$5,000no account filed
May 2003HailGriswold$5,000no account filed
May 2001HailGriswold$5,000no account filed
May 2001HailGriswold$5,000no account filed
April 1995HailGriswold$5,000no account filed
April 1994Thunderstorm WindGriswold$5,000no account filed
April 1994HailGriswold$5,000no account filed
April 1994HailGriswold$5,000no account filed
August 2009Thunderstorm WindGriswold$3,000High winds and heavy rain.
June 2001HailGriswold$3,000no account filed
April 2010Thunderstorm WindGriswold$2,000Pea size hail combined with the wind.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindGriswold$2,000no account filed
April 2006HailGriswold$2,000no account filed
April 2001HailGriswold$2,000no account filed
April 2001Thunderstorm WindGriswold$2,000no account filed
July 2000Thunderstorm WindGriswold$2,000no account filed
March 2011HailGriswold$1,000no account filed
June 2008HailGriswold$1,000no account filed
August 2007Thunderstorm WindGriswold$1,000no account filed
June 2001Thunderstorm WindGriswold$1,000no account filed
June 2025HailGriswold-Multiple hail sizes observed with largest up to ping pong ball sized.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindGriswold-Wind gust measured on a PWS in southwest Cass County.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindGriswold-Report of a large tree on vehicle. Time estimated by radar.
August 2021Heavy RainGriswold-A 24 hour rain total of 4.10 inches.
August 2021Heavy RainGriswold-A 24 hour rain total of 4.00 inches.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindGriswold-Trained spotter reported winds of 60 to 70 MPH in Griswold.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindGriswold-Trained spotter reported multiple trees down, including one on a home, and a roof off a farm building. Time estimated via radar.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindGriswold-Trained spotter reported gusts up to and around 60 mph.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindGriswold-Emergency manager reported broken tree branches across down along with power outages.
June 2014Heavy RainGriswold-Cass County EM reported street flooding with water up to the bottoms of car hubcaps.
May 2014Heavy RainGriswold-A trained spotter measured 4.10 inches of rain. Most of the rain fell in a 2 to three hour period.
September 2010Heavy RainGriswold-A spotter reported 2.64 inches of rain in the past 2 hours, along with pea size hail.
September 2008HailGriswold-Mostly dime size hail with some up to penny size.
September 2022HailGriswold-no account filed
March 2012HailGriswold-no account filed
April 2010HailGriswold-no account filed
April 2010HailGriswold-no account filed
May 2001HailGriswold-no account filed
October 2001HailGriswold-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Cass 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
Indiantown (historical)5.6 miles10
Lewis5.7 miles10
Lyman8.1 miles9
Atlantic13.4 miles9
Sycamore Village14.0 miles9
Grove City (historical)14.0 miles9
Cumberland14.4 miles9
Marne15.0 miles9

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 GriswoldAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1932459The 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 457153. 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.