Primghar, Iowa
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Summit Township. It lies in ZIP code area 51245. It stands on Lake Creek. The Survey maps it on the Primghar quadrangle. 896 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,526 feet above sea level.
On record in Primghar
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
O'Brien County Courthouselisted 1981
Population over time
2 figuresPrimghar fell from 909 to 896 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 | 909 | |
| 2020 | 896 | -13 (-1%) |
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
- 1964 USGS Primghar quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Iowa Great Lakes quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
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 Primghar: 11 past producers, 2 producers, 1 unknown. 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bordewick Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Clay County Hwy Dept | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Crosbie Sand and Gravel | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Maudlin Const Co | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Maudlin-Paullina | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Mauer | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Obrien County Hwy Dept | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Schroer Gravel | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
29 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Primghar in 29 storm reports between 1994 and 2026: 20 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Primghar | $10,000 | Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including large branches blown down. The winds also blew down power lines. |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Primghar | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Primghar | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Primghar | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Primghar | - | Highway 59 was closed through the entire town due to so many trees knocked down onto the road by thunderstorm wind gusts. |
| September 2025 | Hail | Primghar | - | Several photos were received of quarter size hail in Primghar. |
| September 2025 | Hail | Primghar | - | Quarter size hail fell for approximately 5 minutes. |
| July 2024 | Tornado (EFU) | Primghar | - | A brief landspout developed just west of Redwing Avenue around one-half mile north of 380th Street. The landspout tracked generally northwest over open farmland before it lifted just south of 370th Street. Visible damage was not indicated via satellite or from reconnaissance of the area. The location was triangulated from landmarks on a drone video. |
| May 2012 | Tornado (EF0) | Primghar | - | A brief tornado caused no reported damage. |
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Primghar | - | Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several trees blown down. |
| July 2004 | Hail | Primghar | - | Large hail covered the ground. |
| June 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Primghar | - | Thunderstorm winds caused widespread tree damage, including at least one tree uprooted. |
| April 2026 | Hail | Primghar | - | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Hail | Primghar | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Primghar | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Primghar | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Primghar | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Primghar | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Primghar | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Primghar | - | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Hail | Primghar | - | no account filed |
| October 2002 | Hail | Primghar | - | no account filed |
| October 2002 | Hail | Primghar | - | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Hail | Primghar | - | no account filed |
| August 2000 | Hail | Primghar | - | no account filed |
| August 2000 | Hail | Primghar | - | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Hail | Primghar | - | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Hail | Primghar | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Hail | Primghar | - | 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.
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 Primghar | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q646487 | 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 460449. 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.
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.



