Northwood Central Avenue Historic District

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

From the record

“The Northwood Commercial Historic District encompasses most of the central business district along four blocks of Central Avenue in Northwood, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.”
Wikipedia article Northwood Central Avenue Historic District, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 6 National Register listings published here for Worth County · listed in 2006 · category: District.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Address. Roughly, Central Ave. W near 5th St. to 9th St. on the East, Northwood, 50459
When was it listed? September 2006
Category. district
Also known as. Iowa's Main Street Commercial Architecture MPS
Township. Grove township
National Register reference number. 06000857 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

3 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of Northwood Central Avenue Historic District between 2006 and 2014, burning about 124 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	2
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
7 May 2011	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Iowa Department of Natural Resources	4969 NIGHTINGALE NORTHWOOD, IA, IA
12 May 2006	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	120 acres	Iowa Department of Natural Resources	not named
18 April 2014	Debris and open burning	3.0 acres	Iowa Department of Natural Resources	not named

Every fire recorded in Worth County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 13 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 13 workings within 5 miles of Northwood Central Avenue Historic District: 8 producers, 3 past producers, 2 unknowns. 8 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
Hanson	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Harris Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Kensett Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Unknown
Kuennen Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Northwood Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Aase Pit and Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Knutson Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Lucken Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Unknown	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Unknown	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Worth County

Storms near this property

60 of 63 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Northwood, the town this property stands in, in 63 storm reports between 1993 and 2024: 24 hail, 20 thunderstorm wind, 10 heavy rain, 5 flash flood. The reports record 2 injuries. 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
May 2006	Hail	Northwood	2 hurt	no account filed
June 2013	Flash Flood	Northwood	$200,000	Worth County Sheriff's office reported road closures at Ulmus Road between 420th and 400th Rd. Water was flowing over the road from a culvert and 430th between Zinnia Rd west to Yarrow Rd is closed.
June 1998	Flood	Northwood	$75,000	no account filed
May 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Northwood	$50,000	no account filed
July 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Northwood	$50,000	no account filed
July 1994	Hail	Northwood	$50,000	no account filed
May 1994	Hail	Northwood	$50,000	no account filed
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Northwood	$30,000	Iowa DOT reported Highway 65 blocked in both directions due to downed power lines. Time radar estimated.
July 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Northwood	$25,000	County dispatch reported a transformer blown, power lines and power poles down, and tree damage. This is a delayed report and time estimated from radar.
July 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Northwood	$25,000	Numerous trees down on power lines.
June 2008	Flash Flood	Northwood	$25,000	Street flooding was reported in the area.
September 2001	Hail	Northwood	$20,000	no account filed
October 2006	Hail	Northwood	$15,000	no account filed
October 2006	Hail	Northwood	$15,000	no account filed
April 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Northwood	$15,000	no account filed
July 2011	Flash Flood	Northwood	$10,000	Lark Ave between 430th and 440th closed due to high water.
August 2007	Flash Flood	Northwood	$10,000	The creek in town was reported out of its banks and flooding.
April 2010	Hail	Northwood	$10,000	no account filed
October 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Northwood	$10,000	no account filed
October 2006	Hail	Northwood	$10,000	no account filed
April 2004	Hail	Northwood	$10,000	no account filed
June 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Northwood	$10,000	no account filed
September 2001	Hail	Northwood	$10,000	no account filed
September 2001	Hail	Northwood	$10,000	no account filed
June 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Northwood	$10,000	no account filed
June 2008	Tornado (EF0)	Northwood	$5,000	A small debris cloud was noted by a storm chaser.
May 2006	Hail	Northwood	$5,000	no account filed
July 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Northwood	$5,000	no account filed
October 2006	Hail	Northwood	$5,000	no account filed
April 2004	Hail	Northwood	$5,000	no account filed
June 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Northwood	$5,000	no account filed
September 2001	Hail	Northwood	$5,000	no account filed
September 2001	Hail	Northwood	$5,000	no account filed
June 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Northwood	$5,000	no account filed
July 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Northwood	$5,000	no account filed
July 1995	Hail	Northwood	$5,000	no account filed
May 2004	Hail	Northwood	$3,000	no account filed
June 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Northwood	$3,000	no account filed
June 2020	Lightning	Northwood	$2,000	Coop observer reported that lightning hit a walnut tree 100 ft. from the house and fried the well pump.
June 1995	Hail	Northwood	$2,000	The air mass over Iowa became very unstable during the late afternoon hours. Dew point temperatures soared into the lower 70s F. with surface temperatures reaching the middle 80s to lower 90s F. CAPE values reached 3500 J-kg-1 by the latter part of the afternoon. A small cluster of thunderstorms developed over north-central Iowa. One of them became severe and produced inch diameter hail west of Northwood.
June 2006	Hail	Northwood	$2,000	no account filed
July 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Northwood	$2,000	no account filed
March 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Northwood	$1,000	An intense low pressure moved from western Kansas into northwest Iowa during the say. Strong southeast winds drew moisture north from the Gulf of Mexico. Surface dew point temperatures reached the lower 50s ahead of a dry line rotating around the south side of the low. Dew point temperatures were in the 10-12° C range at 850 mb. Thunderstorms erupted during the late afternoon and early evening hours just ahead of the dry line. They became severe over south central Iowa and moved/developed north into the north central counties of the state. Helicity values were quite high in spite of the relatively low cape values. Helicity was in the 550 m2-s-2, while CAPE values were around 500 J-kg-1. Initially, the thunderstorms produced hail. There were several reports of hail in the three-quarter to one inch diameter range from Osceola to just south of Des Moines. WSR-88D VIL values were in the 45-50 kg-m-2 range. One of the stronger cells produced a funnel cloud over Warren County. Spotters were able to watch a rotating wall cloud form just before the funnel formed. As the storms worked north, hail nearly an inch in diameter was reported in Hancock County. Gusty winds became a problem. Wind gusts of 60-65 MPH were reported in Winnebago, Cerro Gordo, and Worth Counties. The storms were quite quick moving, however a series of cells moved across the Des Moines area. They produced heavy rainfall with three inches falling in a short period of time over the eastern sections of Des Moines. This resulted in urban flooding in the area with water over the roads. Soil conditions were quite saturated prior to the rainfall.
May 2006	Hail	Northwood	$1,000	no account filed
July 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Northwood	$1,000	no account filed
August 1993	Hail	Northwood	$500	no account filed
May 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Northwood	-	Trained spotter reported downed trees along Highway 105, 1 mile west of Northwood.
June 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Northwood	-	Reports of trees and powerlines down in Northwood. Time of occurrence estimated from radar.
September 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Northwood	-	Several trees down. Time estimate by radar.
August 2021	Flash Flood	Northwood	-	Water was several inches deep and completely covering 13th Street South in Northwood.
June 2018	Heavy Rain	Northwood	-	Coop observer recorded heavy rainfall of 2.17 inches over the last 24 hours.
July 2016	Heavy Rain	Northwood	-	Coop observer measured heavy rainfall of 3.15 inches over the last 24 hours.
September 2016	Heavy Rain	Northwood	-	Coop observer recorded heavy rainfall of 4.13 inches over the last 24 hours.
September 2016	Heavy Rain	Northwood	-	Coop observer recorded heavy rainfall of 4.13 inches over the last 24 hours.
August 2016	Heavy Rain	Northwood	-	Coop observer reported storm total heavy rainfall of 4.55 inches. End time radar estimated.
July 2015	Heavy Rain	Northwood	-	Coop observer reported heavy rainfall of 2.82 inches over the last 24 hours.
December 2015	Heavy Rain	Northwood	-	Coop observer reported heavy rainfall of 1.55 inches over the last 48 hours/storm total so far.
June 2013	Heavy Rain	Northwood	-	A Co-op observer measured 1.97 inches of rain between 1700 and 1730 CST.
July 2011	Heavy Rain	Northwood	-	Rainfall of 4.50 inches.
July 2011	Heavy Rain	Northwood	-	Heavy rainfall of 4.64 inches from 1430 to 1800 CST.

Every storm recorded in Worth County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

3 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Old Worth County Courthouse	0.2 miles	1981
Worth County Courthouse	0.3 miles	1981
First Methodist Episcopal Church	6.5 miles	2000

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 06000857 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Worth County	All 6 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
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.