BlockBefore

Mecca, Indiana

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1951 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Wabash Township. It lies in ZIP code area 47860. The Survey maps it on the Mecca quadrangle. 263 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 512 feet above sea level.

Mecca within Parke County

On record in Mecca

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 6 records

Population over time

2 figures

Mecca fell from 335 to 263 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.

YearPeople Change
2010335
2020263-72 (-21%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 15 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.

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Mecca: 3 producers, 1 past producer. 3 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
D. Robertson Gravel Company PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Montezuma GravelSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Parke County PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
W.C. Hargis PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Parke County

Storms near this place

18 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Mecca in 18 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 8 thunderstorm wind, 5 flash flood, 3 flood, 1 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
March 2025Tornado (EF1)Mecca$350,000The tornado began just west of Mecca with sporadic tree damage that continued north of West Pence Street. The tornado crossed Coxville Road before tracking mostly through rural woods and farmland west of McAdams Road. The worst damage occurred where the circulation tracked roughly parallel to McAdams Road towards County Road West 100 South where a small garage was completely destroyed and a 150 year old barn was mostly destroyed. The tornado centerline was just to the west of residences along McAdams Road. Several other residences nearby had tree and pole barn damage. The tornado then moved into farmland before dissipating just north of County Road West 100 South. Maximum winds were estimated at 110 mph.
April 2025Flash FloodMecca$50,000Several roads closed due to water flowing over them within the town of Rockville. Total rainfall was around 2.1 inches.
June 2008Flash FloodMecca$20,000Flash flooding caused damaged to roadways. The local tavern in Mecca was flooded.
August 2023FloodMecca$10,000Thunderstorms produced 4.00 to 5.00 inches of heavy rain in less than 3 hours over a small portion of Parke County in Mecca and south-southeast towards Rosedale. Water came into the basement of a home, which had not happened before.
April 2015Flash FloodMecca$10,000Flood damage to a couple of trailers in the town of Mecca due to thunderstorm heavy rainfall. Parke county emergency management estimated the damage at $10,000.
May 2000Thunderstorm WindMecca$10,000no account filed
June 2009Thunderstorm WindMecca$7,000Trees and power lines were blown down due to thunderstorm wind gusts.
July 2013Thunderstorm WindMecca$5,000Trees were reported down across the southern part of the county due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts.
July 2013Thunderstorm WindMecca$5,000Numerous trees were reported down along Highway 41 and in the southern end of the county from Rockville southward due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts.
June 2008Flash FloodMecca$2,000County Road 600 West was closed northwest of Mecca due to flash flooding.
July 2013Flash FloodMecca$1,000Some inches of flowing water was reported over Highway 41 South due to thunderstorm heavy rainfall.
May 2002Thunderstorm WindMecca$1,000Trees down on highway
March 2009FloodMecca-Extensive flooding of agricultural land occurred along the Wabash River near Lyford, IN, and across the river from Clinton. The river crested 6.1 feet above flood stage at the Clinton river gauge on March 14th with a reading of 24.1 feet. Data is estimated due to missing data.
February 2009FloodMecca-Bottomlands and low lying county roads flooded occurred along the Wabash River in Parke County, including in and near Montezuma, due to heavy rain.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindMecca-A few trees were reported down due to damaging thunderstorm winds.
June 2006Thunderstorm WindMecca-Trees were downed.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindMecca-Trees were blown down in roadways.
April 1996HailMecca-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Parke 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
Bradfield Corner1.7 miles15
Armiesburg2.7 miles13
Arabia2.7 miles13
Leatherwood2.9 miles13
Midway3.4 miles13
West Melcher4.3 miles13
Klondyke4.4 miles13
Melcher (historical)4.5 miles13

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 MeccaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3289054The 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 438954. 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.

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.