Altona, Indiana
10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1994. It stands in Keyser Township. It lies in ZIP code area 46738. The Survey maps it on the Garrett quadrangle. 213 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 899 feet above sea level.
On record in Altona
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register within a mile 1 record
The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.
Garrett Community Mausoleumlisted 2014 · 0.7 miles away
Population over time
2 figuresAltona grew from 197 to 213 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 | 197 | |
| 2020 | 213 | +16 (+8%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 10 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.
- 1953 USGS Fort Wayne quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1956 USGS Fort Wayne quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Garrett quadrangle1:24000
- 1973 USGS Garrett quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Fort Wayne quadrangle1:100000
- 1994 USGS Fort Wayne quadrangle1:100000
In the county-history sources
2,823 words on this townshipHistory of Dekalb County, Indiana, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Old Families, published 1914 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for smaller places. Its township is covered in full.
The chapter on Keyser Township covers the township.
Read the chapter on Keyser Township - 2,823 words.
Fires near this place
3 since 2002Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of Altona between 2002 and 2003, burning about 2 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 |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 July 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Indiana State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
| 16 April 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Indiana State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
| 16 February 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Indiana State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
7 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Altona: 5 producers, 1 prospect, 1 past producer. 5 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.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auburn Sand Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Fedrick Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Prospect | ||
| Hixon Sand & Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Indian Springs Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Scott Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Sheets Sand & Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Steward Property | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
8 since 2011Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Altona in 8 storm reports between 2011 and 2022: 5 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Altona | $300,000 | The Auburn-Garrett drive-in theatre outdoor movie screen suffered extensive damage with half of the panels being ripped off the screen and some supports bent or removed. Damage was estimated at $300,000. |
| July 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Altona | - | Trees down. Report via social media. Time estimated from radar. |
| May 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Altona | - | A trained spotter estimated 60 mph wind gusts with the outflow of the storm. |
| March 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Altona | - | A trained spotter estimated 60 mph wind gusts as well as observing a few smaller tree limbs down in the area. |
| July 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Altona | - | Reports of trees and power lines down. |
| May 2018 | Hail | Altona | - | no account filed |
| October 2014 | Hail | Altona | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Altona | - | 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.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garrett | 1.0 miles | 10 | |
| Cedar | 2.7 miles | 10 | |
| Butler Center | 3.1 miles | 10 | |
| Saint Johns | 3.7 miles | 11 | |
| Auburn Junction | 4.3 miles | 11 | |
| New Era | 4.3 miles | 11 | |
| Auburn | 5.2 miles | 11 | |
| Corunna | 5.9 miles | 10 |
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 Altona | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2336394 | 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 430124. 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.





