BlockBefore

Maxwell, Iowa

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Indian Creek Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50161. It stands on Rock Creek. The Survey maps it on the Maxwell quadrangle. 859 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 883 feet above sea level.

Maxwell within Story County

On record in Maxwell

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

Maxwell fell from 920 to 859 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
2010920
2020859-61 (-7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 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

22 since 2011

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 22 fires within 5 miles of Maxwell between 2011 and 2019, burning about 234 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 burning13
Missing data/not specified/undetermined9

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
26 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
12 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resources31766 645 AVE, IA
22 August 2012Debris and open burning1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
7 May 2018Debris and open burning2.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
3 May 2012Debris and open burning3.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
6 April 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resources16110 NE 68TH ST., IA
5 April 2016Debris and open burning33 acresIowa Department of Natural ResourcesCAMBRIDGE/UNION TOWNSHIP
27 April 2018Debris and open burning3.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Story County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Maxwell: 4 past producers. 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
Boyd PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Cook PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
E. Aarthun PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Story County

Storms near this place

44 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Maxwell in 44 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 13 hail, 11 thunderstorm wind, 11 heavy rain, 5 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
September 2019Thunderstorm WindMaxwell$100,000The Emergency manager reported a swath of corn blown down between Collins and Maxwell.
May 2004Flash FloodMaxwell$50,000no account filed
June 2018Flash FloodMaxwell$25,000Law enforcement reported flash flooding around Maxwell with numerous roads reported as having water running over them.
May 2013HailMaxwell$25,000Hail reached quarter size by 1838 CST.
July 2000HailMaxwell$25,000no account filed
December 2021Thunderstorm WindMaxwell$20,000Public reported large tree on a home. Time estimated from radar.
May 2016Thunderstorm WindMaxwell$10,000Fire Department reported 6 inch diameter tree snapped near the base as well as a 12 inch tree limb downed onto a fence.
May 2014Flash FloodMaxwell$10,000Highway 210 had water across the road between 670th and 680th ave, about 2 miles east of Maxwell.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindMaxwell$10,000Roof ripped off of a mobile home.
August 2010Flash FloodMaxwell$10,000Flash flooding reported with water over the road 1/2 mile north of Highway 210 on 670th Ave and 310th Street.
August 2004Tornado (F0)Maxwell$10,000Tornado tracked through the north end of a farmstead resulting in tree damage. One window was blown out of the farmhouse.
August 2004HailMaxwell$10,000no account filed
July 2000HailMaxwell$10,000no account filed
May 2003HailMaxwell$5,000no account filed
April 2001HailMaxwell$3,000no account filed
June 2000Thunderstorm WindMaxwell$3,000no account filed
June 2019Thunderstorm WindMaxwell$2,000Law enforcement relayed reports of a tree down in Maxwell.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindMaxwell$2,000Power was knocked out in Maxwell.
May 2004Tornado (F0)Maxwell$2,000Intermittent tornado track in open fields.
April 2006Thunderstorm WindMaxwell$2,000no account filed
June 2000Thunderstorm WindMaxwell$2,000no account filed
June 2000Thunderstorm WindMaxwell$2,000no account filed
May 2014Thunderstorm WindMaxwell$1,000Numerous 2 to 4 inch limbs were down in Maxwell.
May 2025HailMaxwell-Mostly small hail with a few stones up to quarter sized.
April 2022Heavy RainMaxwell-Storm total of 3.90 inches of rain.
April 2022Heavy RainMaxwell-Storm total of 3.09 inches of rain. Rain continues.
April 2022Heavy RainMaxwell-Storm total of 3.80 inches of rain.
July 2021Flash FloodMaxwell-Trained spotter reports water over the intersection of Woodlawn and 2nd Street at least 6 inches deep. Report via social media.
July 2021Heavy RainMaxwell-Public report of 5.20 inches of rain.
October 2020HailMaxwell-A trained spotter relayed an image of roughly penny to nickel sized hail.
September 2019Heavy RainMaxwell-Coop observer recorded heavy rainfall of 2.60 inches over the last 24 hours.
May 2018HailMaxwell-Trained spotter reported quarter sized hail falling on the south side of Maxwell along with strong winds. No wind damage was observed at the time.
July 2018Funnel CloudMaxwell-Public reported a funnel cloud.
June 2018Heavy RainMaxwell-The Maxwell LARC recorded 3.8 inches of heavy rainfall so far today.
June 2018Heavy RainMaxwell-Public reported heavy rainfall of about 5 inches since 5:45 pm today, and that there was standing water in the area.
September 2016Heavy RainMaxwell-Coop observer reported heavy rainfall of 2.50 inches.
August 2016Heavy RainMaxwell-Public reported storm total heavy rainfall of 4.00 inches.
April 2012Heavy RainMaxwell-Rainfall of 2.50 inches in 24 hours.
June 2008Heavy RainMaxwell-Rainfall of 1.50 inches.
August 2004Tornado (F0)Maxwell-Tornado caused relatively little damage as it tracked through open country.
May 2023HailMaxwell-no account filed
June 2001HailMaxwell-no account filed
July 2000HailMaxwell-no account filed
October 1998HailMaxwell-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Story 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
Iowa Center2.5 miles8
Robison-Whitaker Acres3.0 miles8
Collins5.0 miles8
Cambridge6.9 miles11
Shipley8.5 miles11
Nevada9.5 miles9
Colo9.8 miles9
Huxley10.7 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 MaxwellAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1889252The 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 458863. 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.