Otter Creek, Iowa
17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Otter Creek Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52079. The Survey maps it on the Fulton quadrangle. It stands 1,020 feet above sea level.
On record in Otter Creek
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
St. Lawrence Catholic Churchlisted 1992
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 17 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.
- 1891 USGS Maquoketa quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1901 USGS Peosta quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1959 USGS Dubuque quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Dubuque quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Dubuque quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1976 USGS Dubuque quadrangle1:250000
- 1980 USGS Fulton quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Dubuque South quadrangle1:100000, 4 printings
Fires near this place
24 since 2009Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 24 fires within 5 miles of Otter Creek between 2009 and 2020, burning about 278 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 | 16 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 August 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 5 June 2012 | Debris and open burning | 4.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 18 June 2012 | Debris and open burning | 15 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 6 April 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 28 April 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 27 April 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 35 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 26 April 2020 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 24 April 2018 | 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
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Otter Creek: 1 producer, 1 past producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Zinc, Lead. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otter Creek Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Zwingle Mines and Occurrences | Zinc, Lead | Past Producer | Galena, Sphalerite |
Storms near this place
5 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Otter Creek in 5 storm reports between 2006 and 2024: 2 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2024 | Hail | Otter Creek | - | Time of reported estimated from radar. |
| June 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Otter Creek | - | Two sheds blown over in town. |
| June 2018 | Flash Flood | Otter Creek | - | Farmer's Creek was out of its banks, flowing over 175th Ave and closing the road. |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Otter Creek | - | The emergency manager reported a garage and machine shed destroyed and two power poles snapped. The damage was along Bellevue-Cascade Road just west of Highway 61. |
| April 2006 | Hail | Otter Creek | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cottonville | 4.3 miles | 17 | |
| La Motte | 5.0 miles | 19 | |
| Fulton | 6.0 miles | 17 | |
| South Garry Owen | 6.6 miles | 17 | |
| East Iron Hills | 7.3 miles | 17 | |
| Andrew | 7.7 miles | 17 | |
| Crab Town | 8.0 miles | 17 | |
| Ironhills | 8.2 miles | 17 |
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 Otter Creek | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q22059124 | 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 464688. 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.







