La Porte City, Iowa
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Big Creek Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50651. The Survey maps it on the La Porte City quadrangle. 2,284 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 830 feet above sea level.
On record in La Porte City
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 8 records
Chapple and Young Blocklisted 2002
Clement B. Gingrich Houselisted 1996
La Porte City Stationlisted 1979
August H. J. and Justena Lange Farmstead Historic Districtlisted 1997
LaPorte City Town Hall and Fire Stationlisted 1977
John N. and Mary McQuilken Houselisted 1994
Syndicate Blocklisted 2005
Dr. Jesse Wasson Buildinglisted 1999
Population over time
2 figuresLa Porte City fell from 2,285 to 2,284 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 | 2,285 | |
| 2020 | 2,284 | -1 (-0%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 9 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 Waterloo quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1955 USGS Waterloo quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1971 USGS La Porte City quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Marshalltown quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
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 La Porte City: 2 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Froning Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Bagenstos Sand & Gravel Pit & Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Tom Zeien Sand and Gravel | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
28 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names La Porte City in 28 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 14 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail, 5 heavy rain, 1 flash flood. 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 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Porte City | $300,000 | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Flash Flood | La Porte City | $150,000 | no account filed |
| April 2001 | Tornado (F1) | La Porte City | $125,000 | Tornado with intermittent track over open country. |
| April 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Porte City | $100,000 | no account filed |
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Porte City | $75,000 | Aluminum machine shed was ripped off its foundation and blown anticyclonically north and east, destroying it. Debris from the shed continued in an anticyclonic path and was blown southward and wrapped into a grove of trees 100 feet to the east of the original location of the shed. Door from the machine shed was blown 15 feet into a neighboring corn field. Cattle barn 120 feet to the west was shifted south by 15 feet. |
| July 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Porte City | $50,000 | no account filed |
| April 2000 | Hail | La Porte City | $40,000 | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Flood | La Porte City | $25,000 | Water was over Highway 218 near La Porte City. |
| April 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Porte City | $25,000 | no account filed |
| April 2000 | Hail | La Porte City | $20,000 | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Porte City | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Porte City | $5,000 | The Black Hawk County EM reported tree and crop damage. |
| September 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Porte City | $5,000 | Tree branches of 8 to 10 inches in diameter were blown down, blocking the road at Iowa and Sycamore. Reported by KWWL TV. |
| July 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Porte City | $5,000 | Thunderstorms formed along a stationary frontal boundary across Iowa. Although they were widespread, there was little in the way of severe weather associated with them. One inch diameter IOWA Cont'd hail was reported on the south side of Waterloo. High winds were also reported in the area. Northeast of La Porte City saw high winds. A grove of maple trees, 20 in all, was downed by the high winds. The average diameter of the trees was about one foot. The storms produced heavy rainfall. A small area of east central Tama County into west central Benton County received very heavy rainfall. Three to six inches of rain fell in a 3 hour period in that area. A check with officials in the county indicated there was no significant flooding from the rains however. |
| July 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Porte City | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 2007 | Hail | La Porte City | $3,000 | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Porte City | $2,000 | no account filed |
| August 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Porte City | - | Measured by a personal weather station. Reports of trees down in town as well. |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Porte City | - | Wind gust report from personal weather station. |
| May 2024 | Hail | La Porte City | - | Hail broke windshield of car. Strong wind and heavy rain at the time. |
| July 2024 | Hail | La Porte City | - | Relayed by broadcast media of 1-inch hail. |
| November 2022 | Heavy Rain | La Porte City | - | A 24 hour rain total of 2.14 inches. |
| June 2020 | Heavy Rain | La Porte City | - | Personal weather station recorded 4.23 inches of rainfall over the last 24 hours. |
| June 2020 | Heavy Rain | La Porte City | - | Public weather station recorded 4.23 inches of rainfall over the last 24 hours. |
| June 2020 | Heavy Rain | La Porte City | - | Personal weather station reported a 24 hour rain total of 3.92 inches. |
| June 2020 | Heavy Rain | La Porte City | - | Mesonet station reported a 24 hour rain total of 5.94 inches thus far. Still raining at time of report. |
| September 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Porte City | - | Trained spotter reported estimated 60 mph wind gusts just northwest of La Porte City on Highway 218 near Eagle Road. |
| June 2017 | Hail | La Porte City | - | Public reported quarter sized hail via social media. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Louise | 6.5 miles | 10 | |
| Jubilee | 6.7 miles | 9 | |
| Gilbertville | 7.1 miles | 9 | |
| Washburn | 7.8 miles | 11 | |
| Eagle Center | 8.9 miles | 10 | |
| Cedar Knoll Park | 9.9 miles | 11 | |
| Raymar | 10.0 miles | 9 | |
| Raymond | 10.7 miles | 9 |
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 La Porte City | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1913054 | 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 458156. 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.
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.



