BlockBefore

Sperry, Iowa

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1934 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Franklin Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52650. The Survey maps it on the Sperry quadrangle. 124 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 751 feet above sea level.

Sperry within Des Moines County

On record in Sperry

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 2 records

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 17 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

9 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 9 fires within 5 miles of Sperry between 2006 and 2020, burning about 146 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 burning5
Missing data/not specified/undetermined4

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
23 April 2018Debris and open burning1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
5 March 2020Debris and open burning50 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
4 March 2018Debris and open burning10 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
4 March 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
3 March 2018Debris and open burning70 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
22 March 2018Debris and open burning12 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
11 March 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
14 February 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Des Moines County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Sperry: 2 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Gypsum-Anhydrite. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Sperry Mine and MillGypsum-AnhydriteProducer
Us Gypsum Mine & PlantGypsum-AnhydriteProducer

Every working recorded in Des Moines County

Storms near this place

5 since 2007

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sperry in 5 storm reports between 2007 and 2020: 3 thunderstorm wind, 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2009Thunderstorm WindSperry$25,000Wind gusts estimated to be 70 mph blew down some 1 to 2 foot diameter trees and some power poles in Sperry, IA around 515 pm June 19.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindSperry-At a John Deere dealership, a billboard was damaged and signs were twisted.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindSperry-Wind gusts estimated to be 70 to 80 mph lofted a wood pile and wheel barrow into the air in Sperry, IA at 8:27 pm June 8.
June 2007Flash FloodSperry-Water covered Highway 99 south of Mediapolis.
June 2007HailSperry-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Des Moines County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Dodgeville1.6 miles17
Mediapolis3.5 miles11
Kline3.7 miles17
Kossuth3.9 miles11
Latty4.1 miles17
Kingston6.3 miles17
Pleasant Grove7.0 miles11
Roscoe7.2 miles7

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 SperryAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7576410The 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 461847. 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.