Photograph by C.h.carroll at English Wikipedia, Public domain. Via
Wikimedia Commons.
Spirit Lake Massacre Log Cabin
Built in 1856. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
From the record
“The Spirit Lake Massacre Log Cabin, also known as the Gardner Log Cabin, is located in Arnolds Park, Iowa, United States. Rowland Gardner had led a group of settlers into the region in 1856, and he built this cabin in July of that year.”
Wikipedia article Spirit Lake Massacre Log Cabin, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 12 National Register listings published here for Dickinson County · listed in 1973 · category: Building · built in 1856.
National Register reference number.73000724- 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
30 since 2006
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 30 fires within 5 miles of Spirit Lake Massacre Log Cabin
between 2006 and 2017, burning about 598 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
24
Debris and open burning
4
Arson/incendiarism
1
Misuse of fire by a minor
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
27 September 2006
Arson/incendiarism
under an acre
Iowa Wetland Management District
BLOOPER
31 July 2017
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
under an acre
Iowa Department of Natural Resources
not named
27 June 2017
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
under an acre
Iowa Department of Natural Resources
not named
9 April 2009
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
1.0 acres
Iowa Department of Natural Resources
not named
7 April 2011
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
1.0 acres
Iowa Department of Natural Resources
25271 182ND ST., CENTER GROVE TWP, SPIRIT LAKE, IA
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
24 workings within 5 miles of Spirit Lake Massacre Log Cabin: 17 past producers, 6 producers, 1 unknown.
6 still produce. 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.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Arnolds Park, the town this property stands in, in 23 storm reports between 2001 and 2026: 11 hail, 8 thunderstorm wind, 4 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.
Thunderstorm winds caused widespread tree and power line damage, with resulting power outages. The tree damage included several large trees blown down. Power poles and light poles were also blown down. Some vehicles and homes sustained damage from falling trees and tree debris. Several rides were damaged at Arnolds Park Amusement Park. Docks, boat hoists, and several boats were damaged along the shore of Lake Okoboji.
Heavy rainfall during the mid-evening from 2 to 4 inches in a brief time resulted in street flooding in numerous locations from near Spirit Lake to Milford. One car stalled in high water on U.S. Highway 71 in Arnolds Park. For a more comprehensive description of flood damage, please see other entries for areal and river flooding for Dickinson County.
Rainfall from 3 to 6 inches in a couple hours brought a rapid onset to flash flooding around the Iowa Great Lakes. Significant street flooding began in Arnolds Park, with water flowing across and blocking Highway 71 at 1633CST.
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
6 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.
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.
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