Built in 1875 (Second Empire style). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
From the record
“The Harker House is a historic building located in Storm Lake, Iowa, United States. This two-story Second Empire house is attributed to Fort Dodge, Iowa architect James Harker.”
Wikipedia article Harker House (Storm Lake, Iowa), CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 10 National Register listings published here for Buena Vista County · listed in 1990 · category: Building · built in 1875, Second Empire style.
National Register reference number.90001855- 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
1 since 2009
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Harker House
in 2009, burning about 45 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
1
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
11 workings within 5 miles of Harker House: 7 past producers, 4 producers.
4 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
Storm Lake, the town this property stands in, in 42 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 22 thunderstorm wind, 12 hail, 7 flash flood, 1 lightning.
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 blew the roof off a manufacturing plant, damaged docks and boats along the lake, caused widespread tree damage including numerous large trees blown down, blew down power lines and poles, resulting in power outages, damaged or destroyed several small sheds, blew down several awnings on businesses, snapped a 4 inch by 4 inch street sign pole, and blew shingles off roofs. Numerous vehicles, homes, and businesses sustained minor damage directly from the wind, while other vehicles and homes were damaged by falling trees and tree debris, some heavily.
Heavy rainfall of around 5 inches caused widespread flooding of streets, with up to 4 feet of water covering some intersections. Numerous vehicles stalled, including a police car responding to an emergency. Numerous basements and some surface floors of buildings were flooded, with several houses having up to 6 inches of water on ground level floors. The overflow of storm sewers caused treated sewage water to drain into the lake. Nearby fields and crops were also flooded.
Thunderstorm winds blew a 6 by 20 foot roof section off Kings Pointe Lodge. The roof section damaged other parts of the roof after it blew off. Roof debris and insulation damaged a vehicle in the lodge parking lot.
Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several trees blown down. Four vehicles were damaged by falling trees or tree debris. The winds also blew down power lines, causing a power outage.
Thunderstorm winds caused tree and power line damage. The damage resulted in a power outage that lasted two and a half hours and affected over a thousand city households, about a third of the city's population.
Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including large branches and limbs blown down. At least two vehicles, a pickup truck and a restored automobile, suffered damage from tree debris.
Tree, power line, and roof damage occurred along business Highway 71. Most roof damage was to metal roofing and building soffits, with one building suffering the collapse of an unsupported cinder block wall. Several semi-trucks were tipped over. A large hardwood tree trunk was snapped off above the ground.
Thunderstorms caused heavy rain which caused flooding of streets and yards in Storm Lake on the evening of August 4th. The flash flood was the second one in town on the same day; the first being during the morning.
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
5 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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