BlockBefore

Watkins, Iowa

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1984. It stands in St. Clair Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52354. The Survey maps it on the Newhall quadrangle. 116 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 830 feet above sea level.

Watkins within Benton County

On record in Watkins

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

Population over time

2 figures

Watkins fell from 118 to 116 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.

YearPeople Change
2010118
2020116-2 (-2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 13 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

11 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 11 fires within 5 miles of Watkins between 2008 and 2018, burning about 193 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
Debris and open burning5
Missing data/not specified/undetermined5
Arson/incendiarism1

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
29 May 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resources85 MM I-29, IOWA
28 April 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
27 April 2018Arson/incendiarism6.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
27 April 2018Debris and open burning7.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
11 April 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined10 acresIowa Department of Natural Resources101-103 MM I29, IOWA
21 March 2017Debris and open burning3.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
2 March 2009Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.5 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
19 March 2017Debris and open burning40 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Benton County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Watkins: 1 past producer. 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Massillon PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Benton County

Storms near this place

7 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Watkins in 7 storm reports between 2003 and 2023: 5 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
August 2003Thunderstorm WindWatkins$3,000Event occurred in Norway, Iowa
June 2023Thunderstorm WindWatkins-A metal chimney was blown off a house, a mailbox damaged, and several large tree branches were blown down.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindWatkins-Tree limbs were blown down in Watkins. The storm damage time was estimated from radar.
June 2016Flash FloodWatkins-The creek running near county road E66 near the intersection with 77th street between Norway and Atkins is well out of its banks.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindWatkins-A downburst produced wind damage from the county line 3.5 miles southeast of Blairstown to 2.8 miles southeast of Shellsburg. There was a mile wide swath of near continuous damage to farm outbuildings, tree branches and some power poles. The greatest damage was from 3 miles south of Newhall, where a machine shed and garage were completely destroyed, to about 3 miles northwest of Atkins, where significant damage occurred to outbuildings.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindWatkins-Wind gusts estimated to be 60 mph blew down some tree limbs in Watkins, IA at 330 am CDT July 24. This report was relayed by a media partner.
June 2008HailWatkins-The emergency manager reported hail the size of quarters 1 mile south of Watkins.

Every storm recorded in Benton 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
Norway3.5 miles13
Blairstown5.3 miles8
Newhall7.3 miles13
Walford8.1 miles15
Country Aire Home Park9.4 miles15
Van Horne9.8 miles9
Atkins9.8 miles15
Luzerne10.3 miles8

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 WatkinsAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3799023The 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 462737. 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.