Melrose, Iowa
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1935 and the latest in 1982. It stands in Jackson Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52569. It stands on Bleubaugh Creek. The Survey maps it on the Melrose quadrangle. 110 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 896 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresMelrose fell from 112 to 110 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 | 112 | |
| 2020 | 110 | -2 (-2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 11 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.
- 1935 USGS Russell quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1938 USGS Russell quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Centerville quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Centerville quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Centerville quadrangle1:250000
- 1981 USGS Leon quadrangle1:100000
- 1982 USGS Melrose quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
1 since 2017Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Melrose in 2017, burning about 2 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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 |
|---|---|
| Arson/incendiarism | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 February 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 2.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
25 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Melrose in 25 storm reports between 1996 and 2024: 8 hail, 6 thunderstorm wind, 5 flash flood, 3 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2013 | Flash Flood | Melrose | $500,000 | Monroe County law enforcement reports that downtown Melrose and most of the streets in town were under water with water flowing into some buildings, including the community center with water surrounding several trailer homes. Most streets were impassible. |
| May 2013 | Flood | Melrose | $250,000 | Trained spotter reports that all streets in Melrose are now under water. Some spots are standing and some flowing. Water depth 6 to 8 inches. |
| November 2015 | Tornado (EF2) | Melrose | $150,000 | Tornado moved from Appanoose into Monroe county. This was the strongest tornado of the day and produced extensive damage to several farmsteads. |
| May 2019 | Flood | Melrose | $100,000 | Emergency manager reported multiple secondary roads remained under water or closed in Monroe County from the heavy rainfall yesterday and subsequent overland and river flooding. |
| July 2008 | Flash Flood | Melrose | $30,000 | Substantial street flooding was reported. |
| July 2008 | Flood | Melrose | $25,000 | Roads closed due to flooding in the town of Melrose. |
| June 2015 | Flash Flood | Melrose | $20,000 | Law Enforcement reported street and roadway flooding in the Melrose area. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Melrose | $15,000 | Trained spotter reported large tree down approximately 20 inches in diameter and crops blown down. |
| July 2016 | Flash Flood | Melrose | $10,000 | Law Enforcement reported water onto road near 500th Ave and highway 34, leading to road closures. Time estimated from radar, delayed report. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Melrose | $10,000 | Large tree limbs down north of town and crops blown over. |
| June 2008 | Flash Flood | Melrose | $10,000 | Street flooding up to 2 feet deep reported in downtown Melrose. The downtown area was barricaded. |
| July 2008 | Hail | Melrose | $10,000 | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Melrose | $10,000 | no account filed |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Melrose | $5,000 | Law Enforcement reported trees down near 527th Ave on the NE side of Melrose. Time estimated from radar, delayed report. |
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Melrose | $5,000 | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Hail | Melrose | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 2016 | Tornado (EF0) | Melrose | $4,000 | This short-lived tornado was spotted from NE of Melrose before it became rain-wrapped. Narrow damage path reported on the north side of town by law enforcement. Spotter reported tree damage along the path after the event. |
| August 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Melrose | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Melrose | $2,000 | no account filed |
| May 2024 | Hail | Melrose | - | Trained spotter reported larger than half dollar size hail. |
| June 2021 | Hail | Melrose | - | Trained spotter reported two inch hail and wind gusts up to 65 mph. |
| April 2024 | Hail | Melrose | - | no account filed |
| September 2022 | Hail | Melrose | - | no account filed |
| June 2012 | Hail | Melrose | - | no account filed |
| April 2008 | Funnel Cloud | Melrose | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tyrone | 5.5 miles | 9 | |
| Georgetown | 5.6 miles | 10 | |
| Bucknell | 6.2 miles | 10 | |
| Consol | 7.1 miles | 10 | |
| Rexfield | 8.9 miles | 10 | |
| Weller | 9.0 miles | 10 | |
| Ward | 9.4 miles | 10 | |
| Tower Station (historical) | 10.0 miles | 10 |
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 Melrose | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1928234 | 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 458957. 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.






