BlockBefore

Meriden, Iowa

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Sheridan Township. It lies in ZIP code area 51037. The Survey maps it on the Cleghorn quadrangle. 161 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,411 feet above sea level.

Meriden within Cherokee County

Population over time

2 figures

Meriden grew from 159 to 161 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
2010159
2020161+2 (+1%)

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

14 since 2009

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 14 fires within 5 miles of Meriden between 2009 and 2020, burning about 108 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
Equipment and vehicle use7
Missing data/not specified/undetermined4
Debris and open burning2
Other causes1

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 2012Equipment and vehicle use10 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
29 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resources206 FALCON, IA
12 September 2012Other causesunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
3 August 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
3 April 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined4.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resources4808 HIGH COUNTRY RD, IA
27 April 2018Debris and open burning6.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
1 April 2020Debris and open burning3.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
3 December 2020Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreIowa 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

8 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Meriden: 8 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
Corbett PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Lundell ConstSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Rohlfsen Gravel CoSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Cherokee County

Storms near this place

22 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Meriden in 22 storm reports between 1999 and 2025: 12 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 4 flash 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
August 2006Thunderstorm WindMeriden$200,000Thunderstorm winds destroyed the Maryhill Catholic Church, a structure which had stood since being rebuilt in 1905 after a lightning strike and fire. The winds also blew a hog shed 200 yards off its foundation, blew down or uprooted several large trees, and blew down power lines.
December 2021Thunderstorm WindMeriden$30,000Thunderstorms winds removed a portion of the roof of a well-built machine shed. Property damage costs are a rough estimate.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindMeriden-Large trees were snapped and uprooted by thunderstorm wind gusts.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindMeriden-Winds were measured by a personal weather station.
June 2014Flash FloodMeriden-Heavy rain caused flash flooding of several ditches, small streams and creeks, sending water running over several roads.
May 2012HailMeriden-Hail was accompanied by an inch of rain which fell in 15 minutes.
June 2010Flash FloodMeriden-Heavy rain caused flooding of most streets in the town of Cherokee. Some basements and yards were also flooded.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindMeriden-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several trees blown down.
June 2008Flash FloodMeriden-Heavy rainfall of 3 inches in a short time caused flooding of a park and several roads.
August 2007Flash FloodMeriden-Heavy rainfall of 4.5 inches fell in a short time. The heavy rain caused flooding of streets and ditches, and backing up of sewers.
April 2025HailMeriden-no account filed
May 2014HailMeriden-no account filed
September 2010HailMeriden-no account filed
June 2010Funnel CloudMeriden-no account filed
May 2008HailMeriden-no account filed
June 2006HailMeriden-no account filed
June 2006HailMeriden-no account filed
June 2006HailMeriden-no account filed
September 2002HailMeriden-no account filed
July 2002HailMeriden-no account filed
August 2000HailMeriden-no account filed
May 1999HailMeriden-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
Cleghorn4.3 miles9
Mary Hill5.0 miles9
Cherokee5.4 miles9
Onawa Junction6.3 miles9
Larrabee6.6 miles9
Marcus9.4 miles9
Quimby11.4 miles9
Aurelia11.9 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 MeridenAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1928723The 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 459003. 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.