Westgate, Iowa
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1901 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Fremont Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50681. The Survey maps it on the Maynard quadrangle. 192 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,093 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresWestgate fell from 211 to 192 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 | 211 | |
| 2020 | 192 | -19 (-9%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 12 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.
- 1901 USGS Oelwein quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1959 USGS Dubuque quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Dubuque quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Dubuque quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1976 USGS Dubuque quadrangle1:250000
- 1981 USGS Maynard quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Oelwein quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
27 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 27 fires within 5 miles of Westgate between 2008 and 2020, burning about 105 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12 |
| Debris and open burning | 11 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Smoking | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 July 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 30 June 2012 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 26 June 2012 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 21 May 2012 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 19 May 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 18 May 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 22 April 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 19 April 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | 13376 U AVENUE, SUMNER, IA 50674, IOWA |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Westgate: 2 past producers. 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.
Storms near this place
22 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Westgate in 22 storm reports between 1996 and 2023: 9 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 2 flash flood, 1 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Westgate | $940,000 | Barns were blown down near Westgate with tin strewn across a road. Another barn was blown down with cattle trapped inside the debris, two of which died. Part of a roof was blown off a building used for milking, exposing an office, with the rain soaking office supplies and computers. On the same farm, part of free stall barn was ripped off and a shed was destroyed. Numerous trees and power lines were blown down in town and a church roof sustained damage from the high winds. Some of the trees were 2 to 4 feet in diameter and were either uprooted or snapped off about 20 feet above the ground. Two grain bins were blown over and landed on a building and a truck. |
| May 2011 | Tornado (EF1) | Westgate | $175,000 | This was the first of two tornadoes to hit Fayette County. This tornado tracked east-northeast across the western part of the county. The tornado snapped off or uprooted numerous trees and damaged several homes, barns and grain bins. |
| July 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Westgate | $125,000 | A two mile long path of destruction occurred from approximately 150th Street and S and U Avenues. Numerous barns, bins and outbuildings were demolished. One farm north of Sumner was hit particularly hard. The residence sustained damage and its attached garage was ripped away, with two vehicles in the garage a total loss. Also, a mobile home was severely damaged. Approximately 600 acres of corn and soybeans were shredded by the hail and wind, with crop damage totals nearly a half of a million dollars. |
| April 2008 | Flood | Westgate | $60,000 | No homes or businesses had major damage due to flood waters, although there were widespread reports of basement flooding in homes. Due to the excessive rainfall, the Turkey River at Eldorado rose 8 feet in 9 hours on the morning of April 25. The Turkey River crested at 18.07 feet at Eldorado, which was only 1.5 feet below the record level of 19.6 feet. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Westgate | $50,000 | Several farm out buildings were damaged or blown down and some corn was flattened northeast of Westgate. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Westgate | $25,000 | Severe thunderstorm winds damaged several farm outbuildings, including a new grain bin. A NWS storm survey concluded the damage was created by straight-line winds of estimated speeds up to 90 mph. |
| June 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Westgate | $15,000 | no account filed |
| August 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Westgate | $15,000 | no account filed |
| June 2018 | Flash Flood | Westgate | $6,000 | Runoff from heavy rain pushed several small creeks out of their banks over the southwest part of Fayette County. Several roads west and southwest of Maynard were covered by floodwaters, including State Highway 150 between Maynard and Oelwein. |
| July 2009 | Hail | Westgate | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Westgate | $2,000 | Three large trees were blown down west of Randalia. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Westgate | $2,000 | Severe thunderstorms winds blew down a tree, broke some windows and created a propane leak. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Westgate | $750 | no account filed |
| June 2023 | Hail | Westgate | - | Public reported 1 inch hail near Westgate. |
| July 2017 | Flash Flood | Westgate | - | Locally heavy rains pushed the Little Wapsipinicon River and small creeks that feed the river out of their banks. These flood waters covered roads northwest of Westgate. |
| April 2014 | Hail | Westgate | - | Quarter sized hail was reported in far western Fayette County near Sumner. |
| April 2014 | Hail | Westgate | - | Golf ball sized hail fell near Westgate. Enough hail fell that it covered the ground. |
| July 2010 | Funnel Cloud | Westgate | - | Law enforcement received several reports of funnel clouds between Westgate and Maynard. |
| July 2017 | Hail | Westgate | - | no account filed |
| March 2017 | Hail | Westgate | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Westgate | - | no account filed |
| April 2002 | Hail | Westgate | - | 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 Westgate | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2134530 | 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 462940. 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.






