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Photograph of Mears Cottage
Photograph by Aureliusxv, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Mears Hall

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

From the record

“Mears Cottage, also known as Mears Hall, is a historic structure located on the Grinnell College campus in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. Originally known as Iowa College, it was the second institution west of the Mississippi River to admit women as students.”

Wikipedia article Mears Cottage, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 26 National Register listings published here for Poweshiek County · listed in 1979 · category: Building.

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

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. Grinnell College campus, Grinnell, 50112
  • When was it listed? April 1979
  • Category. building
  • City. Grinnell city
  • National Register reference number. 79000936 - 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

23 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 23 fires within 5 miles of Mears Hall between 2006 and 2018, burning about 182 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/undetermined16
Debris and open burning7

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
30 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resources20TH ST. , IA
7 May 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined100 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
19 May 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
8 April 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
6 April 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined15 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
6 April 2013Debris and open burningunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
5 April 2013Debris and open burning1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
4 April 2009Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Every fire recorded in Poweshiek County

Storms near this property

60 of 87 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Grinnell, the town this property stands in, in 87 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 29 thunderstorm wind, 29 heavy rain, 22 hail, 3 lightning. The reports record 7 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
April 2010HailGrinnell6 hurt, $500,000no account filed
May 2000Thunderstorm WindGrinnell1 hurt, $150,000no account filed
April 2010Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$3,000,000On the north edge of Grinnell, cars were reported off the road and flipped. Power lines were down and roofs were blown off homes.
June 2010LightningGrinnell$550,000no account filed
October 2018FloodGrinnell$100,000Emergency manager reported water over a few gravel roads near Grinnell north of Interstate 80 and other county roads closed near Searsboro due to flooding.
May 2013Flash FloodGrinnell$100,000Roads in the city covered with water and impassible.
April 2010Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$100,000Two barns were blown down just west of Grinnell.
April 2010Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$75,000Damage was caused to several homes in Grinnell.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$50,000Emergency manager reported damage to utility poles, power lines down including high voltage lines, and debris throughout the city blocking streets. Time estimated from AWOS gusts.
September 2018FloodGrinnell$50,000Law enforcement reported several county and rural roads across the county were under water from the heavy rainfall.
August 2016Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$50,000Local newspaper reported at least 15 to 20 trees down across the northern side of Grinnell, some 3 to 4 feet in diameter. Multiple trees fell and damaged building and house roofs. At least 12000 people without power in the area. Delayed report, and time estimated from radar.
April 2014Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$50,000Damage to outbuildings and a trailer was caused by high thunderstorm winds.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$50,000Trees down, transformers down, and power outages.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$50,000Numerous tree limbs down across town and the power was out.
May 2003HailGrinnell$50,000no account filed
May 2003HailGrinnell$50,000no account filed
May 2003HailGrinnell$50,000no account filed
June 1998FloodGrinnell$50,000no account filed
July 2008Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$40,000The roof was blown off of the Farm Bureau Service building in Grinnell.
June 2010LightningGrinnell$25,000no account filed
March 2004Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$25,000no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$25,000no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$25,000no account filed
July 2011Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$15,000Numerous trees uprooted and blown down by high winds.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$15,000Tree damage on the Grinnell College campus.
May 2003HailGrinnell$15,000no account filed
May 2003HailGrinnell$15,000no account filed
May 2003HailGrinnell$15,000no account filed
June 2012Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$10,000Three to four tree limbs three to five inches in diameter down. One branch was 20 feet long.
April 2010Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$10,000Sheet metal was blown down and there was street sign damage.
May 2005Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$10,000no account filed
June 2001HailGrinnell$10,000no account filed
June 2005HailGrinnell$5,000no account filed
September 2005Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$5,000no account filed
June 1998LightningGrinnell$5,000no account filed
June 1997HailGrinnell$5,000no account filed
June 1994Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$5,000no account filed
June 2008Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$3,000Estimated winds of 60 to 65 MPH from the Grinnell College Security personnel.
July 2014HailGrinnell$3,000no account filed
April 2010HailGrinnell$3,000no account filed
July 1995Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$3,000no account filed
April 2014Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$2,000Trees down in the area caused by high thunderstorm winds.
June 2012Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$2,000A trained spotter estimated winds of 60 MPH.
April 2010Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$2,000Two power poles were blown down and damage was reported to small buildings.
October 2004HailGrinnell$2,000no account filed
October 2004Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$2,000no account filed
July 2000HailGrinnell$2,000no account filed
July 2000HailGrinnell$2,000no account filed
July 2011Thunderstorm WindGrinnell$1,000no account filed
June 2005HailGrinnell$1,000no account filed
June 2003HailGrinnell$1,000no account filed
June 2025Heavy RainGrinnell-Rain total of 3 inches from the morning storms.
June 2025Heavy RainGrinnell-Morning total of 5.1 inches from storms.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindGrinnell-Delayed report of tree damage, solar farm damage, and large branches downed mainly on the north side of Grinnell.
May 2023HailGrinnell-Report via social media.
June 2020Heavy RainGrinnell-CoCoRaHS observer recorded 3.70 inches of rainfall over the last 24 hours.
June 2020Heavy RainGrinnell-Public weather station measured 3.3 inches of rain. Beginning time estimated by radar.
October 2019Heavy RainGrinnell-Public reported heavy rainfall of 5.78 inches over the past 24 hours.
October 2019Heavy RainGrinnell-CoCoRaHS observer recorded heavy rainfall of 4.25 inches over the past 24 hours.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindGrinnell-Grinnell Airport AWOS recorded a 63 mph wind gust.

Every storm recorded in Poweshiek 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

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.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
North Grinnell Historic District0.3 miles2008
Stewart Library0.4 miles1976
Goodnow Hall0.4 miles1979
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad-Grinnell Passenger Station0.4 miles1976
Farmers Mutual Reinsurance Company Building0.4 miles2013
Interior Telephone Company Building0.4 miles1990

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 79000936 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Poweshiek CountyAll 26 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.
  • 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.