Thornburg, Iowa
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1982. It stands in Prairie Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50136. The Survey maps it on the What Cheer quadrangle. 45 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 879 feet above sea level.
On record in Thornburg
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 1 record
Bruce Goldfish Fisherieslisted 1982
Population over time
2 figuresThornburg fell from 67 to 45 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 | 67 | |
| 2020 | 45 | -22 (-33%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 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 Des Moines quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS What Cheer quadrangle1:24000
- 1969 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:250000
- 1982 USGS Oskaloosa quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
5 since 2009Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Thornburg between 2009 and 2017, burning about 121 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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 | 4 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 May 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | 3408 170 ST, IA |
| 25 April 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 17 March 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 14 March 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 10 March 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 3.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
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 Thornburg: 4 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Clay, Clay, Bituminous. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What Cheer Clay Products Co. Pits | Clay, Bituminous | Past Producer | ||
| Just Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Keswick Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Unknown | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Clay | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
7 since 2010Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Thornburg in 7 storm reports between 2010 and 2024: 3 flash flood, 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thornburg | $2,000 | A public report was received via local broadcast media of at least two trees down in Thornburg. One tree was on a home and the other on power lines. |
| May 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thornburg | $200 | The county emergency manager reported a power pole was blown down. |
| July 2024 | Flash Flood | Thornburg | - | Law Enforcement reported water flowing over a gravel road between What Cheer and Gibson. The time of the event was estimated using radar. |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thornburg | - | A large tree was blown down, relayed from broadcast media. |
| September 2018 | Flash Flood | Thornburg | - | Law enforcement reported two paved roads in northern Keokuk County were closed with water over the roads. |
| September 2012 | Hail | Thornburg | - | Quarter sized hail fell about 1 mile north of Thornburg, IA around 417 am CDT September 7. |
| August 2010 | Flash Flood | Thornburg | - | Heavy rains resulted in flash flooding of area creeks east of What Cheer, IA during the afternoon of August 20. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jamestown | 2.0 miles | 7 | |
| Vulcan (historical) | 3.0 miles | 7 | |
| Coal Creek | 3.3 miles | 7 | |
| Rosetta (historical) | 3.4 miles | 7 | |
| Gibson | 3.6 miles | 7 | |
| What Cheer | 3.8 miles | 7 | |
| Keswick | 5.1 miles | 7 | |
| Aurora | 5.8 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 Thornburg | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2233622 | 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 462226. 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.





