West Liberty, Iowa
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1894 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Wapsinonoc Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52776. It stands on Middle Branch Wapsinonoc Creek. The Survey maps it on the West Liberty quadrangle. 3,858 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 676 feet above sea level.
On record in West Liberty
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 6 records
Beers and St. John Company Coach Innlisted 2016
Bridge near West Libertylisted 1998
George H. and Loretta Ward Houselisted 1997
West Liberty Commercial Historic Districtlisted 2002
West Liberty Fairgrounds Historic Districtlisted 2015- Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Passenger Depotlisted 2022
Population over time
2 figuresWest Liberty grew from 3,736 to 3,858 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 | 3,736 | |
| 2020 | 3,858 | +122 (+3%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 11 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.
- 1894 USGS West Liberty quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1901 USGS Stanwood quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS West Liberty quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Iowa City quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
1 since 2012Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of West Liberty in 2012, burning about 400 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 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 March 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Storms near this place
27 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names West Liberty in 27 storm reports between 1995 and 2026: 12 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 4 tornado, 1 lightning. The reports record 1 injury. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Liberty | 1 hurt, $15,000 | An eleven year old girl was injured by flying glass when a tree struck her home. The tree struck the house and smashed a window as the girl and her parents were running to the basement for shelter. The family also lost numerous trees and one grain bin. |
| August 2009 | Flood | West Liberty | $500,000 | no account filed |
| April 2008 | Tornado (EF2) | West Liberty | $200,000 | This tornado touched down 5.2 miles northeast of Nichols and tracked to the northeast before lifting 2 miles west of Moscow. The EF2 tornado was on the ground for 6.5 miles, had maximum winds to 115 mph and was 150 yards wide. There were 5 farmsteads that were hit by the tornado, but no injuries were reported. Siding and shingles of two homes were peeled off. Outbuildings were damaged, a machine shed and grain bin destroyed, and a wooden swingset toppled. Utility poles were snapped or blown down, while several trees were snapped or uprooted. |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Liberty | $25,000 | Wind gusts estimated to be 70 mph destroyed a garage and caused extensive tree damage at a home near Highway 70 and 130th Street just southeast of West Liberty, IA around 520 pm CDT May 22. |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Liberty | $25,000 | Wind gusts estimated to be 70 mph blew a roof off of a barn near West Liberty, IA at 530 pm CDT May 24. |
| June 2010 | Flash Flood | West Liberty | $10,000 | Heavy rains resulted in flash flooding of parts of Highway 6 between West Liberty, IA and Atalissa, IA as well as County Road F58 between Durant, IA and Stockton, IA during the morning of June 23. Portions of these roads were closed due to the flooding. |
| April 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Liberty | $10,000 | Thunderstorm winds destroyed a large shed. Reported in local newspaper. Time is estimated. |
| July 1995 | Tornado (F0) | West Liberty | $5,000 | no account filed |
| April 2006 | Hail | West Liberty | $2,000 | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Liberty | $2,000 | no account filed |
| August 2007 | Lightning | West Liberty | $500 | Lightning struck a tree at the First Church United in West Liberty, IA on August 8th. Time estimated. Electricity and phone services were lost. One computer was damaged at the church. |
| April 2026 | Tornado (EF0) | West Liberty | - | An EF0 tornado lofted a corn crib, snapped trees, bent an auger, and partially destroyed a roof on a farm outbuilding. This tornado began in Johnson County, Iowa. |
| May 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Liberty | - | Numerous trees and branches down across West Liberty, Iowa. |
| April 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Liberty | - | County Dispatch relayed a report of a large tree down on a vehicle. |
| May 2023 | Tornado (EF1) | West Liberty | - | This tornado developed just NNW of West Liberty and tracked across the far northeast part of town before eventually crossing over U.S. Highway 6 between West Liberty and Atalissa, and diminishing shortly after. The extent of the damage was mainly to outbuildings, with several walls and roofs collapsed and in some cases blown across a downstream field. A few large trees and two utility poles were also snapped. A large metal batting cage anchored into concrete was twisted and bent sharply at its base. |
| May 2023 | Hail | West Liberty | - | Report from Mping. |
| May 2023 | Hail | West Liberty | - | Report from Mping. |
| July 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Liberty | - | A public report was received via social media of 5 to 6 inch in diameter tree limbs down. The time was estimated by radar. |
| February 2017 | Hail | West Liberty | - | A spotter reported quarter size hail. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Liberty | - | Severe thunderstorm winds downed large trees in West Liberty. |
| July 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Liberty | - | Large tree blown down on a car. The car was unoccupied. |
| May 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Liberty | - | no account filed |
| April 2006 | Hail | West Liberty | - | no account filed |
| March 2005 | Hail | West Liberty | - | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Hail | West Liberty | - | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Hail | West Liberty | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Liberty | - | 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.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atalissa | 5.2 miles | 12 | |
| Nichols | 6.6 miles | 8 | |
| Dayfield (historical) | 9.4 miles | 9 | |
| Moscow | 9.6 miles | 14 | |
| Ardon | 12.7 miles | 9 | |
| Kent Estates | 13.1 miles | 12 | |
| Wilton | 13.2 miles | 14 | |
| Cranston | 13.2 miles | 8 |
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 West Liberty | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2066047 | 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 462879. 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.
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.






