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Lenox, Iowa

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Platte Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50851. The Survey maps it on the Lenox quadrangle. 1,339 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,296 feet above sea level.

Lenox within Taylor County

On record in Lenox

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

Lenox fell from 1,407 to 1,339 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
20101,407
20201,339-68 (-5%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 8 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

9 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 9 fires within 5 miles of Lenox between 2006 and 2020, burning about 226 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 burning4
Missing data/not specified/undetermined3
Equipment and vehicle use1
Smoking1

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
5 July 2020Debris and open burning1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
15 April 2020Debris and open burning4.5 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
1 April 2020Debris and open burning1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
31 March 2014Debris and open burning200 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
24 March 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined4.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
26 February 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined4.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
15 February 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
3 November 2020Equipment and vehicle use10 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Taylor County

Storms near this place

38 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lenox in 38 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 19 thunderstorm wind, 13 hail, 3 tornado, 1 lightning. 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 2011Tornado (EF1)Lenox$10,000,000This was the second tornado to move through Lenox on this day. This tornado formed on the southwest edge of town and moved due north into town along State Highway 49. It removed a roof from an old house and produced tree damage along its path. Shortly after removing the roof, the tornado began moving to the northwest and continued on this path prior to dissipating northwest of town. Maximum winds around 95 mph.
May 2011Tornado (EF1)Lenox$5,000,000This was the first of two tornadoes that moved through Lenox on this day. The tornado formed on south side of Lenox then proceeded to move through town. Worst damage was on the south side of town where a roof was partially removed from a house. Additional shingle damage and tree damage occurred as the tornado moved north northeast through the town. Max wind speeds were around 105 MPH.
May 1998Thunderstorm WindLenox$200,000no account filed
May 1997LightningLenox$100,000no account filed
June 2014Thunderstorm WindLenox$90,000A large shed was completely destroyed just over two miles east of Lenox. Confirmed by a NWS Storm Survey.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindLenox$50,000Wind continued strong for nearly 12 minutes and produced damaging gusts from time to time. Farm building damaged.
April 2006Thunderstorm WindLenox$50,000no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindLenox$30,000no account filed
May 2004Thunderstorm WindLenox$25,000no account filed
June 2014HailLenox$20,000no account filed
September 2001Thunderstorm WindLenox$15,000no account filed
June 2000Thunderstorm WindLenox$15,000no account filed
September 2014HailLenox$10,000no account filed
June 2014HailLenox$10,000no account filed
August 2007Thunderstorm WindLenox$10,000no account filed
June 2015Thunderstorm WindLenox$5,000Large tree limbs down at least 6 inches in diameter. Big enough to require the use of a tractor/vehicle to move them. Delayed report, time estimated by radar.
June 2002Thunderstorm WindLenox$5,000no account filed
October 2002Thunderstorm WindLenox$5,000no account filed
September 2002HailLenox$5,000no account filed
August 2002Thunderstorm WindLenox$5,000no account filed
July 2025Thunderstorm WindLenox$3,000Photo of medium sized tree pushed over. Reports of multiple trees down and one uprooted. Time estimated by radar.
May 2012HailLenox$3,000no account filed
July 2004Thunderstorm WindLenox$3,000no account filed
June 2002HailLenox$3,000no account filed
June 2008Thunderstorm WindLenox$2,000no account filed
June 2007HailLenox$2,000no account filed
May 2004HailLenox$2,000no account filed
August 2004Thunderstorm WindLenox$2,000no account filed
April 1999Tornado (F0)Lenox$2,000no account filed
March 2011HailLenox$1,000no account filed
April 2025Thunderstorm WindLenox-Spotter reported a lot of blowing dust with the gusty winds.
June 2021Heavy RainLenox-Public report of 3.33 inches of rain in 24 hours.
June 2019HailLenox-Public reported quarter sized hail.
April 2018HailLenox-Amateur radio operator reported quarter sized hail.
June 2015Funnel CloudLenox-Trained spotter reports two funnel clouds northwest of Clearfield. No contact with the ground was made by the funnel clouds at the time of the report.
April 2025Thunderstorm WindLenox-no account filed
September 2014HailLenox-no account filed
June 2014HailLenox-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Taylor 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
Sharpsburg6.9 miles8
Merle Junction7.1 miles8
Clearfield7.2 miles8
Holt9.4 miles8
Bushville9.5 miles8
Conway9.7 miles12
Gravity12.7 miles8
Ladoga15.7 miles11

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 LenoxAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1808214The 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 458287. 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.

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.