Burns Harbor, Indiana
16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1934 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Westchester Township. It lies in ZIP code area 46304. It stands on Samuelson Ditch. The Survey maps it on the Ogden Dunes quadrangle. 2,055 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 610 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresBurns Harbor grew from 1,156 to 2,055 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 | 1,156 | |
| 2020 | 2,055 | +899 (+78%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 16 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 Chicago quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1953 USGS Ogden Dunes quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Chicago quadrangle1:250000
- 1968 USGS Ogden Dunes quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1980 USGS Chicago quadrangle1:100000
- 1991 USGS Ogden Dunes quadrangle1:24000
In the county-history sources
16,139 words on this townshipCounties of Porter and Lake, Indiana : Historical and Biographical, published 1882; History of Porter County, Indiana : a Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its People and Its Principal Interests, published 1912 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for smaller places. Its township is covered in full.
The chapter on Westchester Township covers the township.
Read the chapter on Westchester Township - 16,139 words.
Fires near this place
345 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 345 fires within 5 miles of Burns Harbor between 1992 and 2020, burning about 432 acres in total. 9 started naturally. 26 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 | 85 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 75 |
| Debris and open burning | 37 |
| Fireworks | 31 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 26 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 25 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 19 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 18 |
| Natural | 9 |
| Smoking | 9 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 7 |
| Other causes | 4 |
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 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore | TREMONT STUMP |
| 6 September 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore | NORTH |
| 5 September 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore | MISSEDFIRE |
| 4 September 2018 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1.0 acres | Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore | MILL |
| 30 September 2000 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 5.0 acres | Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore | STEEL FIRE |
| 30 September 1995 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1.2 acres | Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore | CAN |
| 27 September 1997 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore | PAINT |
| 25 September 1995 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore | MIDDLE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Burns Harbor: 3 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Box Sand Co Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Crisman Sand Company | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Lorenz Brothers Pit Number 1 | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Zehner Pit | Clay | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
4 since 2007Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Burns Harbor in 4 storm reports between 2007 and 2020: 2 thunderstorm wind, 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Burns Harbor | $5,000 | A tree fell down onto a car and power line on Old Porter Road. |
| October 2020 | Hail | Burns Harbor | - | Quarter size hail was reported near Route 12 and Route 149. |
| July 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Burns Harbor | - | Wind equipment at Burns Harbor measured a wind gust to 59 mph. |
| July 2017 | Hail | Burns Harbor | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shady Side | 0.8 miles | 19 | |
| Meadowbrook | 0.9 miles | 17 | |
| Haglund | 1.3 miles | 17 | |
| Wilson | 1.4 miles | 19 | |
| Salt Creek Estates | 1.9 miles | 19 | |
| Crocker | 2.7 miles | 17 | |
| Dune Acres Station | 2.7 miles | 16 | |
| Dune Acres | 3.0 miles | 16 |
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 Burns Harbor | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2680659 | 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 449809. 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.







