Orleans, Iowa
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Spirit Lake Township. It lies in ZIP code area 51360. The Survey maps it on the Spirit Lake quadrangle. 521 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,407 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresOrleans fell from 608 to 521 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 | 608 | |
| 2020 | 521 | -87 (-14%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 7 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.
- 1954 USGS Fairmont quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Fairmont quadrangle1:250000
- 1970 USGS Spirit Lake quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Iowa Great Lakes quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
21 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 21 fires within 5 miles of Orleans between 2006 and 2019, burning about 677 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 |
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 September 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Iowa Wetland Management District | BLOOPER |
| 29 August 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4.0 acres | Iowa Wetland Management District | KETTELSON |
| 31 July 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 27 June 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 5 May 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 7 April 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | 25271 182ND ST., CENTER GROVE TWP, SPIRIT LAKE, IA |
| 30 April 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 25 April 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 69 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 13 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 13 workings within 5 miles of Orleans: 9 past producers, 4 producers. 4 still produce. 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frey Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Herman Wedking | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Roth Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
6 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Orleans in 6 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 1 flash 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 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Orleans | $1,000 | Thunderstorm winds damaged the roof of a cabin. |
| June 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Orleans | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts up to 60 mph were measured by a personal weather station near Orleans. |
| July 2011 | Flash Flood | Orleans | - | Heavy rainfall of up to 5 inches caused flash flooding of roads and fields. Roads flooded included numerous streets in the town of Spirit Lake, and U.S. Highway 71 near Arnolds Park with 2 feet of water flowing over the highway. |
| July 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Orleans | - | Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including up to 12 inch diameter limbs blown down. |
| July 2019 | Hail | Orleans | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Orleans | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spirit Lake | 1.8 miles | 7 | |
| Beaches Resort | 4.5 miles | 8 | |
| Village East Resort | 4.5 miles | 8 | |
| Triboji Beach | 4.6 miles | 8 | |
| Okoboji | 5.1 miles | 8 | |
| Egralharve | 5.3 miles | 8 | |
| Crows Nest Resort | 5.4 miles | 7 | |
| Arnolds Park | 5.4 miles | 7 |
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 Orleans | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1926193 | 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 459895. 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.



