Otwell, Indiana

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1902 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Jefferson Township. It lies in ZIP code area 47564. The Survey maps it on the Otwell quadrangle. 396 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 499 feet above sea level.

Otwell within Pike County

Population over time

2 figures

Otwell fell from 434 to 396 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	434
2020	396	-38 (-9%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 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.

1902 USGS Ditney quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
1903 USGS Velpen quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
1956 USGS Vincennes quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
1957 USGS Vincennes quadrangle1:250000
1958 USGS Vincennes quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
1961 USGS Otwell quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
1986 USGS Princeton quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings

Storms near this place

12 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Otwell in 12 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 4 tornado, 3 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood. 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
May 2006	Tornado (F2)	Otwell	$1,000,000	About five homes were destroyed. Roughly 15 other homes received major damage, primarily to roofs. Some roofs were removed. Two businesses sustained major roof damage. One mobile home was overturned and blown into a neighboring mobile home, causing extensive damage to it. Individuals were trapped in one home, but no injuries were reported. One travel trailer and one tractor trailer were overturned. Numerous trees and power lines were downed, blocking roads into the community. The damage path began just west of the intersection of Highway 356 and County Road 900E. The damage path extended east-southeast, ending just northwest of County Road 250N where it intersects the Dubois County line. Peak winds were estimated near 120 MPH.
April 1998	Tornado (F2)	Otwell	$500,000	The tornado destroyed two large barns and five or six smaller outbuildings. Significant damage occurred to two farm houses. Several trees and power poles were snapped off. Some two-by-fours and a large saw blade were embedded in homes.
February 2011	Tornado (EF0)	Otwell	$150,000	A few homes had partial roof loss. Several homes sustained shingle damage. The roof was blown off a two-car garage and a large farm shed. About a dozen trees were down or damaged. The average path width was 150 yards. Peak wind was estimated about 85 mph.
June 2013	Tornado (EF1)	Otwell	$20,000	A wooden equipment storage shed was destroyed. The shed was approximately 40 by 80 feet in size. Peak wind speeds were estimated near 100 mph. Trained spotters reported a funnel cloud of varying intensity, which would occasionally seem to dissipate and then re-form.
July 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Otwell	$5,000	Thunderstorm winds blew a tree down onto a power transformer in Otwell.
August 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Otwell	$2,000	Power lines were down.
July 2021	Flash Flood	Otwell	-	Water was flowing over and covering Highways 356 and 257 just northwest of Otwell. Several other county roads just outside of Otwell were flooded as well.
September 2018	Flash Flood	Otwell	-	Water was over State Routes 56 and 64. The co-operative observer in Stendal measured 6.60 inches in a 48-hour period.
May 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Otwell	-	Thunderstorm winds from 75 to 80 MPH caused minor damage to two homes and destroyed a gazebo. Numerous trees were blown down and outbuildings sustained minor damage.
May 2006	Hail	Otwell	-	no account filed
May 2003	Hail	Otwell	-	no account filed
April 1998	Hail	Otwell	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Pike 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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Iva	3.6 miles	14
Whiteoak	4.2 miles	17
White Sulphur Springs	4.8 miles	17
Algiers	4.9 miles	17
Cato	5.1 miles	17
Highbank Town	5.1 miles	14
Survant	6.5 miles	19
Velpen	6.9 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 Otwell	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7110084	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 440760. 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.

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.