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Menlo, Iowa

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1952 and the latest in 1993. It stands in Beaver Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50164. The Survey maps it on the Menlo quadrangle. 345 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,260 feet above sea level.

Menlo within Guthrie County

Population over time

2 figures

Menlo fell from 353 to 345 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
2010353
2020345-8 (-2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 11 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

32 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 32 fires within 5 miles of Menlo between 2006 and 2020, burning about 290 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined16
Debris and open burning11
Equipment and vehicle use3
Smoking1
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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 2020Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
2 June 2017Smokingunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
8 May 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
29 May 2009Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
23 May 2014Debris and open burningunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
10 May 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined25 acresIowa Department of Natural Resources3180 OLEANDER TRAIL, IA
10 May 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resources300TH STREET AND RANCH TRAIL, IA
7 April 2018Equipment and vehicle use20 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Guthrie County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Menlo: 2 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Jefferson QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Menlo QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer

Every working recorded in Guthrie County

Storms near this place

23 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Menlo in 23 storm reports between 1999 and 2025: 14 hail, 8 thunderstorm wind, 1 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
May 2007FloodMenlo$500,000no account filed
June 2015Thunderstorm WindMenlo$20,000Emergency Manager reported power lines down in Menlo. Large hail at the time as well.
August 2015Thunderstorm WindMenlo$15,000Emergency Manager reported trees down in town. Time estimated from radar.
May 2004HailMenlo$15,000no account filed
July 2025Thunderstorm WindMenlo$10,000Citywide tree damage reported in the towns of Menlo, Stuart, and Casey.
September 2014Thunderstorm WindMenlo$10,000Four foot diameter tree down in town.
September 2007Thunderstorm WindMenlo$10,000Power lines blown down in Menlo, power was out on the west side of town.
July 1999HailMenlo$10,000no account filed
April 2001HailMenlo$5,000no account filed
April 2001HailMenlo$4,000no account filed
June 2006HailMenlo$3,000no account filed
May 2004HailMenlo$3,000no account filed
May 2019Thunderstorm WindMenlo$2,000Trained spotter reported 6 to 8 inch diameter tree branches down, including estimated 70 mph winds.
May 2004HailMenlo$2,000no account filed
June 2006HailMenlo$1,000no account filed
September 2019Thunderstorm WindMenlo-Emergency manager relayed law enforcement reports of 4 to 6 inch diameter tree limbs down in Menlo. Time estimated from radar.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindMenlo-Emergency manager reported branches down of at least 2 inches in diameter and a few up to 4 inches in diameter.
September 2018HailMenlo-Trained spotter reported quarter sized hail and winds estimated up to 60 mph.
May 2017HailMenlo-Trained spotter reported quarter sized hail.
November 2015HailMenlo-Emergency Manager reported nickel sized hail.
June 2023HailMenlo-no account filed
June 2013HailMenlo-no account filed
May 2004HailMenlo-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Guthrie 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
Stuart4.7 miles11
Glendon5.2 miles11
Casey6.2 miles9
Dale6.2 miles11
Morrisburgh (historical)7.2 miles11
Monteith7.8 miles11
Diamondhead Lake7.9 miles11
Guthrie Center12.1 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 MenloAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1928267The 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 458983. 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.