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Marcus, Iowa

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Marcus Township. It lies in ZIP code area 51035. The Survey maps it on the Marcus quadrangle. 1,079 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,460 feet above sea level.

Marcus within Cherokee County

Population over time

2 figures

Marcus fell from 1,117 to 1,079 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
20101,117
20201,079-38 (-3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 9 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

12 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 12 fires within 5 miles of Marcus between 2006 and 2015, burning about 393 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 burning5
Missing data/not specified/undetermined5
Equipment and vehicle use2

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
29 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined200 acresIowa Department of Natural ResourcesSEC. 27 - CHEROKEE COUNTY, IA
29 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined40 acresIowa Department of Natural ResourcesAPPROX 12 SOUTH AND 1 EAST OF MARCUS, IA
4 April 2015Equipment and vehicle use40 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
26 April 2014Debris and open burning4.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
20 April 2014Debris and open burning3.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
17 April 2009Missing data/not specified/undetermined10 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
12 April 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
30 March 2015Debris and open burning1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Cherokee County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Marcus: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Cherokee County

Storms near this place

37 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Marcus in 37 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 17 hail, 14 thunderstorm wind, 3 flood, 1 funnel cloud. 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
December 2021Thunderstorm WindMarcus$50,000Thunderstorm winds removed sections of the roof off a few buildings and blew a semi-truck off the road. Property damage costs are a rough estimate.
June 2014FloodMarcus$50,000Persistent moderate to heavy rain caused flooding of fields and other lowlands, including several roads, homes, and businesses. This flooding lasted for almost two days, and was aggravated locally by additional storms during that time. Some roads were damaged or washed out.
June 1994HailMarcus$50,000no account filed
June 1994HailMarcus$50,000no account filed
June 2011Flash FloodMarcus$10,000Heavy rain caused flash flooding of many paved and gravel roads. The floodwaters washed out a culvert and also washed a pickup truck off a road.
August 2000Thunderstorm WindMarcus$10,000Thundestorm winds caused tree damage, including large trees blown down.
June 1994Thunderstorm WindMarcus$5,000no account filed
June 2025Thunderstorm WindMarcus-Thunderstorm wind gusts removed numerous 6 inch diameter tree limbs as well as knocked down several trees around town.
May 2024HailMarcus-Hail was mostly pea to dime size as well as soft, but a few stones were as large as quarters. There was enough hail to briefly cover the ground before it melted in about 15 minutes.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindMarcus-A large evergreen tree in Marcus was downed by thunderstorm wind gusts.
August 2021Thunderstorm WindMarcus-Corn was flattened by thunderstorm wind gusts. Crop damage is an estimate from insured losses. Information provided by the United States Department of Agriculture.
July 2019Thunderstorm WindMarcus-Five inch diameter tree limbs snapped.
May 2016HailMarcus-Hail was mostly pea size, but there were a few large stones up to ping pong ball size.
June 2015Thunderstorm WindMarcus-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including up to 2 foot diameter trees snapped. The winds also blew down power lines.
August 2015FloodMarcus-Heavy rainfall of 3 to 7 inches caused areal flooding of farmland, ditches, and several roads.
June 2014FloodMarcus-Persistent moderate to heavy rain caused flooding of some fields and other lowlands, including several roads. This flooding lasted well into the daytime hours after the rain subsided.
May 2012Thunderstorm WindMarcus-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including some trees blown down.
September 2012Thunderstorm WindMarcus-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several trees blown down.
September 2011Thunderstorm WindMarcus-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several small branches blown down. The winds were accompanied by quarter size hail.
September 2011HailMarcus-Large hail was accompanied by 60 mph wind gusts.
June 2010Tornado (EF0)Marcus-A tornado caused no reported damage.
May 2008HailMarcus-Large hail was accompanied by heavy rain.
June 2001Thunderstorm WindMarcus-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage.
May 2022HailMarcus-no account filed
June 2011HailMarcus-no account filed
June 2010HailMarcus-no account filed
June 2010Funnel CloudMarcus-no account filed
August 2005HailMarcus-no account filed
May 2004HailMarcus-no account filed
May 2004HailMarcus-no account filed
May 2004HailMarcus-no account filed
June 2001Thunderstorm WindMarcus-no account filed
August 2001HailMarcus-no account filed
June 2000Thunderstorm WindMarcus-no account filed
August 2000HailMarcus-no account filed
May 1998HailMarcus-no account filed
September 1996HailMarcus-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Cherokee 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
Cleghorn5.1 miles9
Mary Hill8.9 miles9
Meriden9.4 miles9
Fielding11.2 miles9
Larrabee14.1 miles9
Cherokee14.5 miles9
Onawa Junction15.0 miles9
Quimby16.1 miles9

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 MarcusAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1913857The 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 458799. 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.