Otho, Iowa
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1923 and the latest in 1993. It stands in Otho Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50569. The Survey maps it on the Fort Dodge South quadrangle. 429 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,122 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresOtho fell from 542 to 429 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 | 542 | |
| 2020 | 429 | -113 (-21%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 11 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.
- 1923 USGS Lehigh quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1954 USGS Fort Dodge quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Fort Dodge quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Fort Dodge quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Fort Dodge South quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Carroll quadrangle1:100000
- 1993 USGS Carroll quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
15 since 2013Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 15 fires within 5 miles of Otho between 2013 and 2020, burning about 182 acres in total. None started naturally. 3 were 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 |
|---|---|
| Smoking | 6 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 3 |
| Debris and open burning | 1 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 August 2013 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 14 August 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 18 July 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 3 May 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 27 April 2015 | Smoking | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 24 April 2015 | Smoking | 2.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 18 April 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 10 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 1 April 2015 | Smoking | 45 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 34 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 34 workings within 5 miles of Otho: 22 past producers, 11 producers, 1 unknown. 11 still produce. What was taken out: Gypsum-Anhydrite, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Perlite, Clay. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lehigh Pit & Plant | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Unknown | Flagstone | Past Producer | ||
| Fort Dodge Plant | Gypsum-Anhydrite, Perlite | Past Producer | ||
| Johnston Clay Works | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Kalo Brick and Tile Co. | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| National Gypsum Plant | Gypsum-Anhydrite, Perlite | Producer | ||
| U S Gypsum Plant | Gypsum-Anhydrite, Perlite | Producer | ||
| Vincent Clay Products Co. | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Black Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Hoover Pits | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
12 since 1999Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Otho in 12 storm reports between 1999 and 2017: 4 hail, 4 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 2 heavy rain. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2009 | Hail | Otho | $500,000 | Windows broken in houses. |
| June 2004 | Tornado (F0) | Otho | $100,000 | Tornado touched down south of Otho and caused extensive damage to two farmsteads. |
| August 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Otho | $50,000 | no account filed |
| July 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Otho | $10,000 | One foot diameter trees were downed. |
| June 2004 | Hail | Otho | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Otho | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Tornado (F1) | Otho | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Otho | $3,000 | no account filed |
| May 2006 | Hail | Otho | $1,000 | no account filed |
| June 2017 | Hail | Otho | - | Trained spotter reported nickel sized hail. This is a delayed report. |
| August 2015 | Heavy Rain | Otho | - | Public reported heavy rainfall of 7.00 inches. Beginning time radar estimated. |
| August 2015 | Heavy Rain | Otho | - | Public reported heavy rainfall of 4.25 for an event total thus far. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kalo | 1.1 miles | 11 | |
| Roberts | 1.3 miles | 11 | |
| Coalville | 1.9 miles | 11 | |
| Shady Oak | 2.6 miles | 11 | |
| Cypsum City (historical) | 3.6 miles | 11 | |
| Lundgren | 4.1 miles | 12 | |
| Evanston | 4.9 miles | 11 | |
| West Fort Dodge (historical) | 5.1 miles | 11 |
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 Otho | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1927861 | 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 459915. 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.






