Larchwood, Iowa
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Larchwood Township. It lies in ZIP code area 51241. The Survey maps it on the Larchwood quadrangle. 926 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,476 feet above sea level.
On record in Larchwood
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
- Klondike Bridgelisted 1998
Population over time
2 figuresLarchwood grew from 866 to 926 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 | 866 | |
| 2020 | 926 | +60 (+7%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 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.
- 1955 USGS Sioux Falls quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Sioux Falls quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS Larchwood quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Rock Rapids quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
2 since 2010Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Larchwood between 2010 and 2020, burning about 30 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 1 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 September 2020 | Debris and open burning | 25 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 29 March 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | 1243 BUCHANAN AVE, IOWA |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
8 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Larchwood: 6 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dieters Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Maudlin Klondike | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Scott Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Stensland Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
31 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Larchwood in 31 storm reports between 1993 and 2022: 21 hail, 9 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 1993 | Tornado (F2) | Larchwood | $500,000 | Border Crosser, went into Minnehaha County, SD at 1500CST. Intense thunderstorms developed ahead of an approaching cold front. This line was the first wave of storms to form. The bulk of the severe weather passed to the west and north of Iowa. One very large cell formed over the northwest corner of the state. It produced a tornado northwest of Larchwood, in the northwest corner of Lyon County. Buildings were damaged on three farms. A total of 10 buildings were destroyed as well as two silos. On one of the farms, the owner watched as a 1500 pound fertilizer tank was lifted 50 feet into the air and blew past his window. Total damage to the three farmsteads affected amounted to about $200,000. The only injury that occurred was to a bull on one of the farms. The bull sustained a broken leg. The tornado passed into southeast South Dakota shortly after this damage occurred. It was a border crossing tornado. |
| August 2021 | Hail | Larchwood | $300,000 | Multiple pictures received of very large hail around Larchwood. Hail size ranged from tennis ball to as much as 4 inches in diameter. Several cars and houses reported to have all windows broken out. Property damage costs are a rough estimate. |
| April 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Larchwood | $30,000 | no account filed |
| September 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Larchwood | $20,000 | Thunderstorm winds destroyed an empty 300,000 bushel grain storage bin, and a large wooden storage shed under construction. The winds also caused tree damage. |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Larchwood | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Larchwood | $300 | Thunderstorm winds blew down a two-foot diameter tree. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Larchwood | - | Large branches were downed by thunderstorm wind gusts. |
| August 2021 | Hail | Larchwood | - | Crop damage is an estimate from insured losses. Information provided by the United States Department of Agriculture. |
| August 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Larchwood | - | Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several branches blown down. |
| April 2021 | Hail | Larchwood | - | no account filed |
| April 2021 | Hail | Larchwood | - | no account filed |
| August 2021 | Hail | Larchwood | - | no account filed |
| August 2016 | Hail | Larchwood | - | no account filed |
| September 2015 | Hail | Larchwood | - | no account filed |
| June 2013 | Hail | Larchwood | - | no account filed |
| April 2010 | Hail | Larchwood | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Larchwood | - | no account filed |
| April 2007 | Hail | Larchwood | - | no account filed |
| April 2005 | Hail | Larchwood | - | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Hail | Larchwood | - | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Hail | Larchwood | - | no account filed |
| August 2005 | Hail | Larchwood | - | no account filed |
| September 2005 | Hail | Larchwood | - | no account filed |
| September 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Larchwood | - | no account filed |
| September 2004 | Hail | Larchwood | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Larchwood | - | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Hail | Larchwood | - | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | Larchwood | - | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | Larchwood | - | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Larchwood | - | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Hail | Larchwood | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lester | 5.4 miles | 7 | |
| Klondike | 6.5 miles | 10 | |
| Granite | 6.6 miles | 10 | |
| Inwood | 10.1 miles | 7 | |
| Alvord | 10.4 miles | 7 | |
| Rock Rapids | 13.8 miles | 7 | |
| Beloit | 14.0 miles | 11 | |
| Lakewood Corner | 15.6 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 Larchwood | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1928634 | 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 458230. 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.



