Waukon, Iowa
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1903 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Makee Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52172. The Survey maps it on the Waukon quadrangle. 3,827 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,237 feet above sea level.
Research this city
On record in Waukon
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
Allamakee County Court Houselisted 2003
Allamakee County Courthouselisted 1977
Otto J. Hager Houselisted 1985
Population over time
2 figuresWaukon fell from 3,897 to 3,827 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 | 3,897 | |
| 2020 | 3,827 | -70 (-2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 13 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.
- 1903 USGS Waukon quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1958 USGS La Crosse quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS La Crosse quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS La Crosse quadrangle1:250000
- 1968 USGS Waukon quadrangle1:24000
- 1976 USGS La Crosse quadrangle1:250000
- 1985 USGS Decorah quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
23 since 2009Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 23 fires within 5 miles of Waukon between 2009 and 2020, burning about 637 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 burning | 13 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 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 August 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 3 April 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 28 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 85 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 26 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 300 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 25 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 12 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 24 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 23 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 23 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 35 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 11 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of Waukon: 9 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Iron. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron Hill | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Occurrence | Iron | Past Producer | Hematite, Limonite | |
| Waukon Iron Mine | Iron | Past Producer | Hematite, Limonite | |
| Burke Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Hammell Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Mccabe Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Unknown | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
60 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Waukon in 60 storm reports between 1994 and 2022: 33 thunderstorm wind, 16 hail, 5 flash flood, 2 tornado. 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 2016 | Flash Flood | Waukon | $400,000 | Runoff from heavy rain caused flooding to occur in and around Waukon. Several rescues had to be performed to save people from the flooding. Some businesses and homes were damaged by the flooding. |
| July 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $200,000 | A barn was blown down and two silos collapsed on a farm southwest of Waukon. |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $85,000 | no account filed |
| July 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $80,000 | An estimated 60 mph wind gust occurred in Waukon. The roof was blown off a business, a home lost part of its roof and several other businesses sustained some roof damage. |
| July 2022 | Tornado (EF1) | Waukon | $60,000 | A brief EF1 tornado touched down southwest of Waukon. The tornado damaged the roofs on farm outbuildings along with some trees. |
| August 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $45,000 | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Flash Flood | Waukon | $35,000 | no account filed |
| December 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $30,000 | Power poles, lines and trees were blown down in Waukon. Almost 2,700 customers lost power because of the downed poles and lines. |
| June 1998 | Flash Flood | Waukon | $20,000 | no account filed |
| July 1998 | Hail | Waukon | $20,000 | no account filed |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $20,000 | no account filed |
| June 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $15,000 | Lots of trees and power lines were blown down across the northern part of the county. |
| August 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $15,000 | Thunderstorms with high winds produced damage in and near Waukon. Trees and crops were blown over, a camper was rolled onto its side and house windows were broken. |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $15,000 | no account filed |
| April 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $15,000 | no account filed |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $10,000 | Trees and power lines were blown down in Waukon. |
| July 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $10,000 | Part of a roof was removed from an outbuilding and corn was pushed over near Waukon. |
| June 1995 | Hail | Waukon | $10,000 | Thunderstorms fired ahead of a strong cold front as it sank south into an unstable air mass over Iowa. Cape values were around 2500 J-kg-1 combined with lifted indices in the -8° range aided the thunderstorm development. Iowa was on the southwest corner of a small convective complex. The storms produced hail and gusty winds over the northeast corner of the state, with golf ball-size hail reported north of Waukon in Allamakee County. One inch diameter hail was also reported about the same time west of Burr Oak in Winneshiek County. |
| May 2002 | Tornado (F0) | Waukon | $10,000 | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $10,000 | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Hail | Waukon | $8,000 | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $7,000 | no account filed |
| July 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $5,000 | Large trees were blown down, including one on a car and sporadic power outages in Waukon. |
| July 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $5,000 | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $4,500 | no account filed |
| August 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $3,500 | no account filed |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $3,000 | Trees were blown down west of Waukon. |
| July 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $3,000 | no account filed |
| June 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $2,500 | no account filed |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $2,000 | Trees were blown down in Waukon. |
| June 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $2,000 | Trees were blown down on Old Stage Road three miles west-northwest of Waukon. |
| March 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $2,000 | Power poles were blown down in Waukon. |
| August 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $2,000 | Several trees were blown down in the city of Waukon. |
| April 2004 | Hail | Waukon | $1,750 | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $1,250 | no account filed |
| April 2004 | Hail | Waukon | $1,000 | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Hail | Waukon | $1,000 | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $1,000 | no account filed |
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $750 | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | $250 | no account filed |
| July 2020 | Flood | Waukon | - | Locally heavy rains caused some street flooding to occur in Waukon. |
| May 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | - | An estimated 60 mph wind gust occurred north of Waukon. |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | - | An estimated wind gust of 60 mph occurred in Waukon. |
| April 2014 | Hail | Waukon | - | Quarter sized hail was reported in Waukon. |
| June 2014 | Flash Flood | Waukon | - | Runoff from locally heavy rain caused numerous streets to be closed in Waukon and sand bagging occurred around a hotel. |
| August 2014 | Hail | Waukon | - | Quarter sized hail fell in Waukon. |
| June 2013 | Flash Flood | Waukon | - | Very heavy rain fell at such a fast rate that the sewer stations in Waukon were not able to keep up with the rain and as a result, flooding occurred around the city. |
| June 2013 | Heavy Rain | Waukon | - | In Waukon, 4.5 inches of rain fell. |
| August 2009 | Heavy Rain | Waukon | - | An observer recorded 3.14 inches of rain during the afternoon of August 19th. Street flooding was reported in Waukon. |
| June 2014 | Hail | Waukon | - | no account filed |
| April 2014 | Hail | Waukon | - | no account filed |
| April 2014 | Hail | Waukon | - | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | - | no account filed |
| April 2002 | Hail | Waukon | - | no account filed |
| April 2002 | Hail | Waukon | - | no account filed |
| April 2002 | Hail | Waukon | - | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Funnel Cloud | Waukon | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Hail | Waukon | - | no account filed |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Waukon | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Waukon | - | 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 Waukon | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q990893 | 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 462754. 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.






