BlockBefore

Babcock, Indiana

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1934 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Liberty Township. It lies in ZIP code area 46385. It stands on Damon Run. The Survey maps it on the Chesterton quadrangle.

Babcock within Porter County

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 17 printed sheets

Matched 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.

In the county-history sources

3,688 words on this township

Counties of Porter and Lake, Indiana : Historical and Biographical, published 1882 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for smaller places. Its township is covered in full.

The chapter on Liberty Township covers the township.

Read the chapter on Liberty Township - 3,688 words.

Fires near this place

108 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 108 fires within 5 miles of Babcock between 1992 and 2020, burning about 120 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 8 were 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/undetermined34
Debris and open burning23
Railroad operations and maintenance22
Arson/incendiarism8
Equipment and vehicle use5
Recreation and ceremony4
Fireworks4
Natural3
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Other causes1

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
6 September 1994Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreIndiana Dunes National LakeshoreNORTH
30 September 2000Railroad operations and maintenance5.0 acresIndiana Dunes National LakeshoreSTEEL FIRE
27 September 2002Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIndiana State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
20 September 2020Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreIndiana Dunes National LakeshoreCHESTERON ASSIST
8 August 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIndiana Dunes National LakeshoreLOG
13 August 1992Debris and open burningunder an acreIndiana Dunes National LakeshoreSTREET
11 August 2007Natural3.0 acresIndiana Dunes National LakeshoreGOLDEN DOME
6 July 2000Railroad operations and maintenance1.0 acresIndiana Dunes National LakeshoreJULY

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Porter County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Babcock: 2 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Lorenz Brothers Pit Number 1ClayPast Producer
Zehner PitClayPast Producer

Every working recorded in Porter County

Storms near this place

3 since 2019

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Babcock in 3 storm reports between 2019 and 2025: 1 hail, 1 tornado, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
March 2025Thunderstorm WindBabcock-Multiple 6-inch diameter tree limbs were broken along US-6 between Porter and Valparaiso.
June 2021Tornado (EF0)Babcock-A tornado with peak winds of 75 mph touched down just east of north State Road 149 and north of Robbins Road where a large tree was uprooted and several houses exhibited minor shingle loss. Sporadic tree damage occurred along the path of this tornado until it lifted east of Meridian Road and north of East County Road 950.
May 2019HailBabcock-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Porter County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Forest Oaks0.6 miles17
Crocker1.4 miles17
Pleasant Valley1.9 miles19
McCool2.1 miles19
Western Acres2.2 miles17
South Haven2.7 miles19
Haglund2.8 miles17
Salt Creek Estates3.0 miles19

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 430375. 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.