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.
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 17 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.
- 1934 USGS Porter quadrangle1:48000
- 1940 USGS Porter quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1953 USGS Chesterton quadrangle1:24000
- 1953 USGS Chicago quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1957 USGS Chicago quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Chesterton quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1980 USGS Chicago quadrangle1:100000
- 1991 USGS Chesterton quadrangle1:24000
In the county-history sources
3,688 words on this townshipCounties 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 1992Regional 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/undetermined | 34 |
| Debris and open burning | 23 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 22 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 8 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| Fireworks | 4 |
| Natural | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Other causes | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore | NORTH |
| 30 September 2000 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 5.0 acres | Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore | STEEL FIRE |
| 27 September 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Indiana State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
| 20 September 2020 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore | CHESTERON ASSIST |
| 8 August 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore | LOG |
| 13 August 1992 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore | STREET |
| 11 August 2007 | Natural | 3.0 acres | Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore | GOLDEN DOME |
| 6 July 2000 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1.0 acres | Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore | JULY |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lorenz Brothers Pit Number 1 | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Zehner Pit | Clay | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
3 since 2019Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Babcock | - | Multiple 6-inch diameter tree limbs were broken along US-6 between Porter and Valparaiso. |
| June 2021 | Tornado (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 2019 | Hail | Babcock | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Oaks | 0.6 miles | 17 | |
| Crocker | 1.4 miles | 17 | |
| Pleasant Valley | 1.9 miles | 19 | |
| McCool | 2.1 miles | 19 | |
| Western Acres | 2.2 miles | 17 | |
| South Haven | 2.7 miles | 19 | |
| Haglund | 2.8 miles | 17 | |
| Salt Creek Estates | 3.0 miles | 19 |
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.







