Ridgeway, Iowa
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1906 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Lincoln Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52165. It stands on Walnut Creek. The Survey maps it on the Ridgeway quadrangle. 275 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,198 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresRidgeway fell from 315 to 275 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 | 315 | |
| 2020 | 275 | -40 (-13%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 12 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.
- 1906 USGS Decorah quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS La Crosse quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS La Crosse quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS La Crosse quadrangle1:250000
- 1975 USGS Decorah 2 SW quadrangle1:24000
- 1976 USGS La Crosse quadrangle1:250000
- 1981 USGS Ridgeway quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Decorah quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
6 since 2012Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 6 fires within 5 miles of Ridgeway between 2012 and 2020, burning about 61 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 | 6 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 June 2012 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 18 May 2016 | Debris and open burning | 6.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | RIDGEWAY FIRE DEPARTMENT |
| 14 May 2012 | Debris and open burning | 12 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 5 April 2020 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 28 April 2013 | Debris and open burning | 35 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 19 April 2020 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of Ridgeway: 10 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anderson Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Englehard Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Huey Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Thompson Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
26 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ridgeway in 26 storm reports between 1996 and 2024: 11 hail, 10 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2022 | Tornado (EF0) | Ridgeway | $125,000 | An EF0 tornado touched down just outside of Ridgeway and moved into the very northwest side of town before dissipating. A few farm outbuildings were damaged along the path, and a livestock trailer was flipped onto its top. |
| August 2007 | Flash Flood | Ridgeway | $110,000 | County Road W14 was damaged due to heavy rainfall and flash flooding. Time was estimated. |
| May 1996 | Hail | Ridgeway | $25,000 | no account filed |
| April 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ridgeway | $20,000 | A farm outbuilding had the roof and two walls blown off southwest of Ridgeway. |
| April 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ridgeway | $20,000 | An old garage was pushed over by winds northeast of Ridgeway. |
| August 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ridgeway | $15,000 | Law enforcement reported a tree down onto a power line in Ridgeway. |
| April 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ridgeway | $10,000 | Some outbuildings were damaged in Ridgeway. |
| July 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ridgeway | $10,000 | A mobile home was pushed off its foundation, but the home did not roll over and no injuries were reported. |
| May 2002 | Flash Flood | Ridgeway | $8,000 | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Flash Flood | Ridgeway | $5,000 | A number of roads had minor wash outs across the southern part of Winneshiek County due to runoff from heavy rains. In addition, high water from a plugged culvert closed 177th Street northwest of Ossian. |
| July 2009 | Hail | Ridgeway | $2,500 | Most of the hail was penny-sized, with very strong winds. |
| July 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ridgeway | $2,000 | Two foot diameter trees were blown down in Ridgeway. |
| August 2000 | Hail | Ridgeway | $1,500 | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ridgeway | $1,300 | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Hail | Ridgeway | $750 | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ridgeway | $500 | no account filed |
| January 2018 | Flood | Ridgeway | - | Runoff from heavy rains caused flooding to occur west of Ridgeway. 240th Street at the intersection with 315th Avenue was closed because of the flooding. |
| May 2017 | Hail | Ridgeway | - | Quarter sized hail fell in Ridgeway. |
| May 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ridgeway | - | An estimated 70 mph wind gust occurred in Ridgeway. |
| May 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ridgeway | - | An estimated 60 mph wind gust occurred southwest of Ridgeway. |
| July 2012 | Hail | Ridgeway | - | Golf ball sized hail fell in Ridgeway. |
| July 2009 | Hail | Ridgeway | - | Hail the size of dimes occurred with strong winds. |
| May 2004 | Hail | Ridgeway | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Ridgeway | - | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Hail | Ridgeway | - | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Hail | Ridgeway | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spillville | 6.7 miles | 12 | |
| Conover | 7.4 miles | 12 | |
| Bluffton | 8.3 miles | 12 | |
| Kendallville | 10.1 miles | 7 | |
| Calmar | 10.2 miles | 12 | |
| Decorah | 10.7 miles | 12 | |
| Fort Atkinson | 11.0 miles | 12 | |
| Nordness | 12.2 miles | 12 |
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 Ridgeway | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1925969 | 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 460629. 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.







