Harpers Ferry, Iowa
19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1903 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Taylor Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52146. It stands on Springs Branch Creek. The Survey maps it on the Harpers Ferry quadrangle. 262 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 646 feet above sea level.
On record in Harpers Ferry
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
- Yellow River State Forest Fire Towerlisted 2021
Population over time
2 figuresHarpers Ferry fell from 328 to 262 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 | 328 | |
| 2020 | 262 | -66 (-20%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 19 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.
- 1903 USGS Waukon quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1929 USGS Prairie Du Chien quadrangle1:62500
- 1932 USGS Prairie Du Chien quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS La Crosse quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS La Crosse quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS La Crosse quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Prairie Du Chien quadrangle1:62500
- 1976 USGS La Crosse quadrangle1:250000
- 1983 USGS Harpers Ferry quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Decorah quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
20 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 20 fires within 5 miles of Harpers Ferry between 1994 and 2018, burning about 70 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 7 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 May 1997 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 12 May 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 6 April 2015 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 5 April 2015 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 3 April 1997 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 29 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 20 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 25 April 2000 | Debris and open burning | 24 acres | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 24 April 1997 | Debris and open burning | 11 acres | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
6 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Harpers Ferry: 3 past producers, 2 producers, 1 unknown. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Lead, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harpers Ferry Diggings | Lead | Past Producer | Galena | |
| Harpers Ferry Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Brazell Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| O Connel Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Shrader Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Unknown | ||
| Wexford Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer |
Storms near this place
13 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Harpers Ferry in 13 storm reports between 1994 and 2026: 6 hail, 4 thunderstorm wind, 2 heavy rain, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harpers Ferry | $5,000 | Numerous trees were reported down. |
| July 2000 | Hail | Harpers Ferry | $3,000 | no account filed |
| September 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harpers Ferry | $2,000 | Trees were blown down across a road north of Harpers Ferry. |
| April 2026 | Hail | Harpers Ferry | - | The public reported quarter sized hail in Harpers Ferry. |
| June 2014 | Heavy Rain | Harpers Ferry | - | In Harpers Ferry, 3.2 inches of rain fell. |
| September 2012 | Hail | Harpers Ferry | - | Up to half dollar sized hail fell in Harpers Ferry. |
| June 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harpers Ferry | - | A tree branch 4 inches in diameter was broken and rain totaled just under 3 inches. |
| June 2009 | Heavy Rain | Harpers Ferry | - | A rainfall total of 4.5 inches was reported. |
| May 2017 | Hail | Harpers Ferry | - | no account filed |
| June 2015 | Hail | Harpers Ferry | - | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Hail | Harpers Ferry | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harpers Ferry | - | no account filed |
| July 1994 | Tornado (F0) | Harpers Ferry | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waukon Junction | 3.7 miles | 19 | |
| Eldergrove | 4.4 miles | 19 | |
| Thompson Corner | 6.1 miles | 18 | |
| Waterville | 7.7 miles | 14 | |
| Dalby | 7.8 miles | 14 | |
| Egan | 7.8 miles | 14 | |
| Yellow River | 8.0 miles | 20 | |
| Ion | 8.4 miles | 13 |
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 Harpers Ferry | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q674908 | 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 457276. 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.









