Sabula, Iowa
24 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Union Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52070. It stands on L Esmay Slough. The Survey maps it on the Savanna quadrangle. 506 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 592 feet above sea level.
On record in Sabula
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 3 records
John S. Dominy Houselisted 1992
Savanna-Sabula Bridgelisted 1999
Jeremiah Wood Houselisted 1982
Population over time
2 figuresSabula fell from 576 to 506 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 | 576 | |
| 2020 | 506 | -70 (-12%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 24 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.
- 1892 USGS Savanna quadrangle1:62500, 8 printings
- 1952 USGS Savanna quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1959 USGS Dubuque quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Dubuque quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Dubuque quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1967 USGS Savanna quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1976 USGS Dubuque quadrangle1:250000
- 1984 USGS Dubuque South quadrangle1:100000, 4 printings
Fires near this place
14 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 14 fires within 5 miles of Sabula between 1992 and 2019, burning about 45 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 were 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 | 5 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 June 1992 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Savanna District, Upper Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge | ISLAND 199 |
| 1 May 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4.1 acres | Savanna District, Upper Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge | SETBACK LEVEE |
| 6 April 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 7.0 acres | Savanna District, Upper Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge | GOOSEPOINT |
| 5 April 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Savanna District, Upper Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge | ESMAY SLOUGH |
| 23 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 31 |
| 23 April 2009 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Savanna District, Upper Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge | DUCK BLIND 80 |
| 15 April 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 38 |
| 1 April 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 21 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 12 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 12 workings within 5 miles of Sabula: 7 past producers, 3 producers, 2 occurrences. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Limestone, General. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lloyde Haas Quarry | Limestone, General | Producer | ||
| Schultz Quarry | Limestone, General | Producer | ||
| Old Nichols Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Trenkamp Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Turner Sand Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Limestone Prospect | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence | ||
| Limestone Prospect | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence | ||
| Marshall Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Savanna Township Hwy Dept | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Teeds Grove Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
6 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sabula in 6 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 funnel cloud, 1 hail, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sabula | $50,000 | Wind gusts estimated to be 60 mph blew a pontoon boat onto a car in Sabula, IA around 522 pm June 27. |
| July 2025 | Flash Flood | Sabula | - | Jackson county 911 relayed a report of flash flood damage in the town of Sabula. Sabula fire department was reportedly pumping water out of houses. |
| May 2014 | Hail | Sabula | - | Golf ball sized hail fell in Sabula, IA at 823 pm CDT May 20. |
| September 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sabula | - | Corn fields damaged. |
| June 1999 | Funnel Cloud | Sabula | - | no account filed |
| April 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sabula | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Samoa | 1.3 miles | 24 | |
| Sterling | 4.2 miles | 13 | |
| Lainsville | 4.4 miles | 23 | |
| Twin Springs | 7.2 miles | 15 | |
| Reeceville | 7.6 miles | 15 | |
| Miles | 7.7 miles | 13 | |
| Green Island | 9.7 miles | 15 | |
| Van Buren | 10.2 miles | 13 |
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 Sabula | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1925720 | 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 460877. 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.







