Mystic, Iowa
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1939 and the latest in 1981. It stands in Walnut Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52574. The Survey maps it on the Mystic quadrangle. 322 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 899 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresMystic fell from 425 to 322 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 | 425 | |
| 2020 | 322 | -103 (-24%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 9 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.
- 1939 USGS Mystic quadrangle1:62500
- 1942 USGS Mystic quadrangle1:62500
- 1954 USGS Centerville quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Centerville quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Centerville quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Mystic quadrangle1:24000
- 1981 USGS Centerville quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
5 since 2015Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Mystic in 2015, burning about 142 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 burning | 5 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 July 2015 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 4 April 2015 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 30 March 2015 | Debris and open burning | 120 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 14 March 2015 | Debris and open burning | 20 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 18 January 2015 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 14 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 14 workings within 5 miles of Mystic: 10 past producers, 4 producers. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Clay, Zinc. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drill Hole | Zinc | Past Producer | Sphalerite | |
| Carter-Waters Corp. Plant | Clay | Producer | ||
| Centerville Clay Products Co. | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Centerville Quarry | Clay | Producer | ||
| Unknown | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Centerville No. 2 Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Clarkdale Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Kincade Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| L and W No. 5 Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Swan Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer |
Storms near this place
12 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Mystic in 12 storm reports between 2008 and 2024: 4 flash flood, 4 thunderstorm wind, 2 heavy rain, 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2010 | Flash Flood | Mystic | $100,000 | Water running over numerous streets in town. Estimated 6-8 inches depth in several areas including west Main Street, Low Road, Spring Street, and Lodwick Street. |
| June 2010 | Flash Flood | Mystic | $100,000 | South 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, West Main, Powell, Spring, Willow, and Low Road were all under water and closed. Total rainfall since 0600 CST was 2.6 inches. |
| June 2008 | Flash Flood | Mystic | $25,000 | Deputy reported water at least 3 to 4 inches deep and flowing across 472nd St west of Highway T14. Also, water was flowing across T14 north of that location. |
| June 2010 | Flood | Mystic | $10,000 | A couple of roads in town were closed due to flooding. |
| July 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mystic | $10,000 | Winds reported near 70 MPH and pea size hail. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mystic | $5,000 | Law Enforcement reported trees down in Mystic. Time and location estimated from radar, delayed report. |
| August 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mystic | $5,000 | Trained spotter near Mystic reports 2 large trees and numerous branches and limbs down from severe straight line winds. |
| July 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mystic | - | Personal weather station gusted to 62 mph. |
| June 2021 | Heavy Rain | Mystic | - | Public report of 4.17 inches of rain in 24 hours ending at midnight. |
| June 2017 | Hail | Mystic | - | Public reported 2 inch hail via KCCI uLocal page. |
| June 2015 | Flash Flood | Mystic | - | Law Enforcement reported flooding within the town of Mystic. |
| July 2015 | Heavy Rain | Mystic | - | Trained spotter reported heavy rainfall of 3.35 inches since about 3am. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil | 1.5 miles | 9 | |
| Diamond (historical) | 1.5 miles | 9 | |
| Clarkdale | 2.1 miles | 9 | |
| Walnut City | 2.4 miles | 9 | |
| Sunshine | 2.8 miles | 11 | |
| Garfield | 3.1 miles | 11 | |
| Rathbun | 3.3 miles | 9 | |
| Forbush | 3.6 miles | 9 |
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 Mystic | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q584567 | 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 459427. 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.






