Ruthven, Iowa
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Highland Township. It lies in ZIP code area 51358. The Survey maps it on the Ruthven quadrangle. 725 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,440 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresRuthven fell from 737 to 725 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 | 737 | |
| 2020 | 725 | -12 (-2%) |
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
- 1972 USGS Ruthven quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Estherville quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
13 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 13 fires within 5 miles of Ruthven between 2005 and 2019, burning about 970 acres in total. 2 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 | 8 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Debris and open burning | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2012 | Natural | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 8 September 2012 | Natural | 100 acres | Iowa Wetland Management District | SMITH SLOUGH WF |
| 8 May 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 7 May 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 45 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 4 May 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 acres | Iowa Wetland Management District | BLUE WING MARSH |
| 29 May 2014 | Smoking | 21 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 5 April 2015 | Debris and open burning | 50 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 22 April 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 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
8 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Ruthven: 8 past producers. None of them still produces. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ruthven 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 | ||
| Unknown | 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 |
Storms near this place
34 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ruthven in 34 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 16 hail, 12 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ruthven | $500,000 | Law enforcement reported hog building completely destroyed. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ruthven | $50,000 | Personal weather station gust to 62 mph. Widespread tree damage and minor sheet metal damage through the town of Ruthven just south of this station. |
| July 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ruthven | $50,000 | no account filed |
| September 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ruthven | $25,000 | The Palo Alto County EM reported several 24 inch diameter trees downed along with several power lines down in Ruthven. |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ruthven | $20,000 | no account filed |
| October 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ruthven | $15,000 | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ruthven | $15,000 | no account filed |
| August 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ruthven | $15,000 | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Tornado (F1) | Ruthven | $10,000 | Tornado tracked through mostly open area with only minor damage reported. |
| July 2012 | Hail | Ruthven | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Flash Flood | Ruthven | $5,000 | Water flowing over 380th Avenue due to a creek out of its banks. |
| June 2014 | Flash Flood | Ruthven | $5,000 | Water over 340th Avenue at the confluence of two small creeks north of Ruthven. |
| June 2010 | Flash Flood | Ruthven | $5,000 | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Ruthven | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ruthven | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ruthven | $5,000 | no account filed |
| October 2013 | Hail | Ruthven | $3,000 | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Hail | Ruthven | $3,000 | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Ruthven | $3,000 | no account filed |
| August 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ruthven | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Ruthven | $1,000 | no account filed |
| August 2000 | Hail | Ruthven | $1,000 | no account filed |
| September 1998 | Hail | Ruthven | $200 | no account filed |
| April 2025 | Hail | Ruthven | - | Mostly dime to nickel sized hail, but a few stones up to quarter sized. |
| July 2020 | Hail | Ruthven | - | A report relayed via KICD of golf ball sized hail. Time estimated via radar. |
| July 2020 | Hail | Ruthven | - | A report relayed via KICD of quarter sized hail. |
| June 2019 | Hail | Ruthven | - | Coop observer reported quarter sized hail. |
| June 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ruthven | - | Coop observer reported 60 mph wind gusts. |
| June 2018 | Heavy Rain | Ruthven | - | Broadcast media, KICD Radio, relayed public report of heavy rainfall of 2.2 inches near Lost Island Lake over the last 24 hours. |
| June 2018 | Heavy Rain | Ruthven | - | KICD Radio relayed a public report of heavy rainfall of 4.5 inches over the last 24 hours. |
| June 2018 | Hail | Ruthven | - | Broadcast media, KICD, relayed reports of quarter sized hail. |
| August 2017 | Hail | Ruthven | - | Coop observer reported quarter sized hail. |
| August 2008 | Hail | Ruthven | - | A KICD staffer reported hail in the Ruthven and Lost Island Lake area. |
| September 1998 | Hail | Ruthven | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fallow (historical) | 7.0 miles | 7 | |
| Ayrshire | 7.1 miles | 7 | |
| Graettinger | 10.8 miles | 7 | |
| Osgood | 11.4 miles | 7 | |
| Emmetsburg | 11.5 miles | 7 | |
| Curlew | 13.3 miles | 8 | |
| Mallard | 17.6 miles | 8 | |
| Cylinder | 18.6 miles | 7 |
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 Ruthven | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1913411 | 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 460866. 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.



