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Monroe, Iowa

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Fairview Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50170. The Survey maps it on the Monroe quadrangle. 1,967 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 925 feet above sea level.

Monroe within Jasper County

On record in Monroe

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

Monroe grew from 1,830 to 1,967 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
20101,830
20201,967+137 (+7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 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

2 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Monroe between 2006 and 2016, burning about 1 acre 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 burning1
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1

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
11 March 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreIowa Department of Natural ResourcesNORTH ENGLISH BENEFITTED FIRE
11 February 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Every fire recorded in Jasper County

Mines and quarries near this place

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Monroe: 5 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Flagstone, Clay, Iron. 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
Orcutt Brick PlantClayPast Producer
Red Ocher QuarryIronPast Producer
Stony Point QuarryFlagstonePast Producer
UnknownFlagstonePast Producer
Van Wyngarden Sandstone QuarryFlagstonePast Producer

Every working recorded in Jasper County

Storms near this place

41 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Monroe in 41 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 21 hail, 15 thunderstorm wind, 2 funnel cloud, 2 tornado. The reports record 1 injury. 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
April 2024Tornado (EF1)Monroe1 hurt, $250,000Jasper County EMA reported a path of damage starting just east of Monroe impacting several rural homesteads. Much of the damage was to trees and outbuildings with a few smaller sheds being destroyed. Otherwise, the bulk of the path was across rural farmland between Monroe and Reasnor in southern Jasper County.
August 2013HailMonroe$100,000no account filed
March 2010LightningMonroe$50,000no account filed
August 2013HailMonroe$25,000no account filed
May 2004Thunderstorm WindMonroe$25,000no account filed
August 2013HailMonroe$20,000no account filed
July 2011Thunderstorm WindMonroe$15,000High winds downed several trees.
June 1998Thunderstorm WindMonroe$15,000no account filed
April 2010HailMonroe$10,000no account filed
May 2004Thunderstorm WindMonroe$10,000no account filed
July 2003HailMonroe$10,000no account filed
June 2002Thunderstorm WindMonroe$10,000no account filed
May 2000HailMonroe$10,000no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindMonroe$10,000no account filed
July 2018Tornado (EF0)Monroe$8,000Tornado developed east of Monroe and tracked southeast for entire path. Damage was mainly to trees and crops although a machine shed lost a small part of its roof near the start of the tornado. There was impressive flattening of crops near the county line where path widened to 500 yards. Tornado crossed from Jasper into Marion county.
October 2013Thunderstorm WindMonroe$5,000Six to seven inch diameter branches were blown down by 60 to 70 MPH winds.
July 2003HailMonroe$5,000no account filed
April 2001HailMonroe$5,000no account filed
August 2013HailMonroe$3,000no account filed
August 2013HailMonroe$3,000no account filed
April 2010HailMonroe$3,000no account filed
April 2010HailMonroe$3,000no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindMonroe$3,000no account filed
June 2014Thunderstorm WindMonroe$2,000Winds gust estimated 58 to 65 MPH with several tree limbs down. Moved heavy patio furniture 3 to 5 feet.
October 2013Thunderstorm WindMonroe$2,000A large tree was taken down on Highway F70 about a quarter mile west of town.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindMonroe$2,000no account filed
August 2004HailMonroe$2,000no account filed
March 2007Thunderstorm WindMonroe$1,000no account filed
March 2025Thunderstorm WindMonroe-Trained spotter estimated wind gust of 60 mph.
April 2025HailMonroe-Report via social media.
July 2024HailMonroe-Report of 1 inch hail, along with estimated winds of 70 mph.
July 2024HailMonroe-Hail up to golf ball sized.
August 2021Funnel CloudMonroe-KCCI viewer shared a picture looking south from a truck stop along Interstate 80. Location edited based on likely thunderstorm location from radar.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindMonroe-The Iowa Dept. of Transportation relayed a report of stop sign blown over at highway 163 on the west side of Monroe. Time estimated via radar.
May 2018HailMonroe-Trained spotter reported up to nickel sized hail. Report came via text message picture.
July 2018Funnel CloudMonroe-Law enforcement reported a funnel cloud near Highway 163 and mile marker 25.
May 2017Thunderstorm WindMonroe-Public reported wind gusts to 70 mph.
August 2015HailMonroe-Trained spotter reported quarter sized hail in Monroe, IA.
July 2024HailMonroe-no account filed
March 2023HailMonroe-no account filed
March 2006HailMonroe-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Jasper 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
Reasnor5.7 miles9
Wilson (historical)7.9 miles8
Galesburg8.6 miles8
Prairie City8.9 miles8
Metz10.1 miles8
Coal Siding (historical)10.5 miles8
Severs10.7 miles8
Vandalia10.9 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 MonroeAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1926338The 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 459177. 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.