Portland, Iowa
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Portland Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50401. It stands on Mason Creek. The Survey maps it on the Nora Springs quadrangle. 28 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,078 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresPortland fell from 35 to 28 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 | 35 | |
| 2020 | 28 | -7 (-20%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 8 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 Mason City quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:62500
- 1959 USGS Nora Springs quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
14 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 14 fires within 5 miles of Portland between 2006 and 2018, burning about 25 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 3 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 July 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 6 June 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 5.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 5 May 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 23 May 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 5 April 2012 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 24 April 2018 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 23 April 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 20 April 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 24 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 24 workings within 5 miles of Portland: 14 past producers, 9 producers, 1 unknown. 9 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Faught Pit | Clay | Producer | ||
| Kirk Pit | Clay | Producer | ||
| Oswald Clay Pit | Clay | Producer | ||
| Unknown | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Ideal Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Portland Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Portland West Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Unknown | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Weaver Readymix Inc | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Cerro Gordo County Pits | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown |
Storms near this place
14 since 2007Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Portland in 14 storm reports between 2007 and 2022: 7 flood, 2 flash flood, 2 heavy rain, 2 thunderstorm wind. 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 2008 | Flood | Portland | $1,000,000 | no account filed |
| August 2007 | Flood | Portland | $50,000 | no account filed |
| March 2011 | Flood | Portland | $25,000 | no account filed |
| March 2008 | Flood | Portland | $25,000 | no account filed |
| March 2010 | Flood | Portland | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 2016 | Flash Flood | Portland | $5,000 | Law Enforcement reported water flowing pretty good over 260th street between Ulmus Ave and Thrush Ave. Water was deep enough for the Sheriff to put up barricades. |
| June 2016 | Flash Flood | Portland | $5,000 | Law Enforcement reported water flowing over the road at near 260th and 265th and Yarrow Ave. |
| September 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Portland | $1,000 | Public reported a large tree downed, estimated 1 foot or more in diameter. |
| April 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Portland | - | Small outbuilding and large tree knocked over from the inflow into the storm at this location. |
| July 2018 | Hail | Portland | - | Public reported quarter sized hail. |
| September 2016 | Heavy Rain | Portland | - | CoCoRaHS observer reported heavy rainfall of 2.02 inches over the last 24 hours. |
| September 2016 | Heavy Rain | Portland | - | CoCoRaHS observer recorded heavy rainfall of 2.61 inches over the last 24 hours. |
| April 2008 | Flood | Portland | - | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Flood | Portland | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mason City Junction | 3.5 miles | 8 | |
| Hanford | 3.9 miles | 8 | |
| Mason City | 4.5 miles | 9 | |
| Cameron | 4.7 miles | 8 | |
| Rock Falls | 5.8 miles | 8 | |
| Central Heights | 6.3 miles | 9 | |
| Owen | 6.7 miles | 8 | |
| Plymouth Junction | 6.8 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 Portland | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q6083210 | 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 460368. 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.





