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.
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
Lenox Hotellisted 2002
Population over time
2 figuresLenox 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,407 | |
| 2020 | 1,339 | -68 (-5%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 8 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 Nebraska City quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Nebraska City quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Nebraska City quadrangle1:250000
- 1980 USGS Lenox quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Mount Ayr quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
9 since 2006Regional 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 burning | 4 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Smoking | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 July 2020 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 15 April 2020 | Debris and open burning | 4.5 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 1 April 2020 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 31 March 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 24 March 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 26 February 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 15 February 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 3 November 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
38 since 1997Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2011 | Tornado (EF1) | Lenox | $10,000,000 | This 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 2011 | Tornado (EF1) | Lenox | $5,000,000 | This 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 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lenox | $200,000 | no account filed |
| May 1997 | Lightning | Lenox | $100,000 | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lenox | $90,000 | A large shed was completely destroyed just over two miles east of Lenox. Confirmed by a NWS Storm Survey. |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lenox | $50,000 | Wind continued strong for nearly 12 minutes and produced damaging gusts from time to time. Farm building damaged. |
| April 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lenox | $50,000 | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lenox | $30,000 | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lenox | $25,000 | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Hail | Lenox | $20,000 | no account filed |
| September 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lenox | $15,000 | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lenox | $15,000 | no account filed |
| September 2014 | Hail | Lenox | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Hail | Lenox | $10,000 | no account filed |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lenox | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lenox | $5,000 | Large 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 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lenox | $5,000 | no account filed |
| October 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lenox | $5,000 | no account filed |
| September 2002 | Hail | Lenox | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lenox | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lenox | $3,000 | Photo of medium sized tree pushed over. Reports of multiple trees down and one uprooted. Time estimated by radar. |
| May 2012 | Hail | Lenox | $3,000 | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lenox | $3,000 | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Lenox | $3,000 | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lenox | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | Lenox | $2,000 | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Lenox | $2,000 | no account filed |
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lenox | $2,000 | no account filed |
| April 1999 | Tornado (F0) | Lenox | $2,000 | no account filed |
| March 2011 | Hail | Lenox | $1,000 | no account filed |
| April 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lenox | - | Spotter reported a lot of blowing dust with the gusty winds. |
| June 2021 | Heavy Rain | Lenox | - | Public report of 3.33 inches of rain in 24 hours. |
| June 2019 | Hail | Lenox | - | Public reported quarter sized hail. |
| April 2018 | Hail | Lenox | - | Amateur radio operator reported quarter sized hail. |
| June 2015 | Funnel Cloud | Lenox | - | 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 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lenox | - | no account filed |
| September 2014 | Hail | Lenox | - | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Hail | Lenox | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sharpsburg | 6.9 miles | 8 | |
| Merle Junction | 7.1 miles | 8 | |
| Clearfield | 7.2 miles | 8 | |
| Holt | 9.4 miles | 8 | |
| Bushville | 9.5 miles | 8 | |
| Conway | 9.7 miles | 12 | |
| Gravity | 12.7 miles | 8 | |
| Ladoga | 15.7 miles | 11 |
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 Lenox | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1808214 | 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 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.




