Sanborn, Iowa
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Franklin Township. It lies in ZIP code area 51248. The Survey maps it on the Sanborn quadrangle. 1,392 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,552 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresSanborn fell from 1,404 to 1,392 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 | 1,404 | |
| 2020 | 1,392 | -12 (-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 Sanborn quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Iowa Great Lakes quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Mines and quarries near this place
5 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Sanborn: 4 past producers, 1 unknown. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appleton Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Douma Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Hodgman | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Sanborn | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Wound | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown |
Storms near this place
52 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sanborn in 52 storm reports between 1993 and 2026: 30 hail, 18 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 funnel cloud. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 1993 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sanborn | $500,000 | On the morning of the 26th, a stationary front extended from northwest Minnesota into northwest Kansas. During the evening, an upper level system pushed the front into Iowa, with the front reaching central Iowa by sunrise on the 27th. Severe thunderstorms developed ahead of the cold front. High winds affected the northwest counties of the state. One-inch-diameter hail was reported with the storms in O'Brien County at Sanborn. Shortly after midnight, strong straight line winds in Sanborn blew a police car across the street. The winds lasted 3 to 3.5 minutes. A three block area in Hartley had a lot of tree damage, with a 22-inch-diameter ash tree uprooted. Four buildings had the windows broken out. A three-stall garage had its roof blown about 100 meters north into a bean field. A single car garage was completely blown away. It had its door closed with a car inside the garage. After the wind stopped, the garage was on the other side of the grove and the car was not scratched. The garage was destroyed. Four strands of heavy electrical wire were blown down just north of town. As the storm moved over Dickinson County, lightning struck a resort house in Arnolds Park. The house was set on fire. The fire spread quickly, causing extensive damage to the home. |
| August 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sanborn | $100,000 | Thunderstorm winds caused widespread tree and power line damage in Sanborn. Large trees were blown down or uprooted, and numerous large branches were blown down. Tree debris block several roads. Some homes were damaged by falling trees and tree debris. Power lines and poles were blown down, including two large transmission line towers. A power outage resulted from the damage. The winds also caused an unknown amount of damage to area crops, especially corn. |
| June 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sanborn | $50,000 | no account filed |
| July 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sanborn | $20,000 | Thunderstorm winds snapped numerous power poles, and downed a 3 foot diameter tree as well as many 2 to 4 inch diameter branches. Power was knocked out for several hours when falling tree limbs took down powerlines. |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sanborn | $10,000 | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sanborn | $5,000 | Thunderstorm winds damaged several outbuildings on three farmsteads. |
| April 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sanborn | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sanborn | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sanborn | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 1993 | Hail | Sanborn | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sanborn | $3,000 | Thunderstorm winds toppled a camper. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sanborn | - | Numerous tree branches, ranging from 6 to 18 inches in diameter, were downed by thunderstorm winds. Some fell on houses with many streets blocked. |
| June 2024 | Flash Flood | Sanborn | - | Heavy rainfall from 3 to 5 inches resulted in significant street flooding with several stalled vehicles. For a more comprehensive description of flood damage, please see other entries for areal and river flooding for O'Brien County. |
| May 2024 | Hail | Sanborn | - | Crop damage is an estimate from insured losses. Information provided by the United States Department of Agriculture. |
| August 2023 | Flood | Sanborn | - | Several yards flooded due to a small creek overflowing. |
| September 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sanborn | - | Large tree limbs were downed by thunderstorm wind gusts. Crop damage is an estimate from insured losses. Information provided by the United States Department of Agriculture. |
| September 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sanborn | - | Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including up to 6 inch diameter limbs blown down. |
| May 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sanborn | - | Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including numerous branches up to 3 inches in diameter blown down. |
| September 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sanborn | - | Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including small branches blown down. The winds were accompanied by quarter size hail. |
| September 2010 | Hail | Sanborn | - | Large hail was accompanied by damaging wind gusts. |
| June 2010 | Tornado (EF0) | Sanborn | - | A brief tornado caused no reported damage. |
| July 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sanborn | - | Thunderstorm winds blew down four inch diameter tree branches. |
| July 2004 | Hail | Sanborn | - | Large hail broke windows and damaged vehicles. |
| April 2026 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| April 2026 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| April 2026 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| April 2026 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| April 2026 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| August 2025 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| May 2024 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| May 2024 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| May 2024 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| May 2024 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| July 2023 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| August 2022 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| June 2020 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| June 2020 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| May 2018 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| May 2018 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| August 2014 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Funnel Cloud | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| August 2009 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| April 2001 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| April 2001 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| April 2001 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Hail | Sanborn | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Hail | Sanborn | - | 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 Sanborn | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1925787 | 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 461387. 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.



