Alton, Kansas
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1896 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Sumner Township. It lies in ZIP code area 67623. It stands on Crooked Creek. The Survey maps it on the Alton quadrangle. 100 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,650 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresAlton fell from 103 to 100 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 | 103 | |
| 2020 | 100 | -3 (-3%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 15 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.
- 1896 USGS Osborne quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1953 USGS Alton quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1955 USGS Beloit quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1959 USGS Beloit quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1985 USGS Beloit quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
2 since 2015Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Alton in 2015, burning about 241 acres in total. None started naturally. None was 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 |
|---|---|
| Smoking | 1 |
| Debris and open burning | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 March 2015 | Smoking | 240 acres | Kansas Forest Service | 4 |
| 17 January 2015 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Kansas Forest Service | 1 |
Storms near this place
60 of 79 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Alton in 79 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 51 hail, 16 thunderstorm wind, 6 flash flood, 3 heavy rain. 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 2023 | Hail | Alton | $100,000 | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Flash Flood | Alton | $75,000 | Thunderstorms rumbled across northern Kansas and dumped several inches of rain across Osborne County. This caused several rural roads and area creeks and streams to flood. |
| April 2008 | Hail | Alton | $75,000 | no account filed |
| August 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alton | $50,000 | Wind gusts estimated at 70 MPH resulted in a few snapped power poles. |
| May 2008 | Flash Flood | Alton | $50,000 | Thunderstorms were slow to move across southern Osborne County and dumped several inches of rain during the early evening hours. This caused several roads to become covered with water, small creeks overflowed and the South Fork of the Solomom River also flooded. |
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alton | $30,000 | Several power poles and tree limbs were damaged in the area due to the 75 mph. Power was lost for several hours. |
| May 2002 | Hail | Alton | $30,000 | no account filed |
| August 2019 | Flash Flood | Alton | $25,000 | Radar estimation and a few gauge reports indicated that 3 to 5 inches of rain fell across northern Osborne County during the evening-overnight. A social media post and photo showed several inches of water flowing rapidly over a county road a few miles southeast of Alton. Other county roads were likely impacted by the heavy rainfall as well. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alton | $25,000 | Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH. |
| May 2024 | Hail | Alton | $25,000 | no account filed |
| September 2014 | Hail | Alton | $25,000 | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Hail | Alton | $25,000 | no account filed |
| June 2011 | Hail | Alton | $25,000 | no account filed |
| April 2005 | Hail | Alton | $25,000 | no account filed |
| May 1999 | Hail | Alton | $25,000 | no account filed |
| April 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alton | $20,000 | no account filed |
| May 2016 | Hail | Alton | $15,000 | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Flash Flood | Alton | $15,000 | no account filed |
| July 2007 | Flash Flood | Alton | $10,000 | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Hail | Alton | $10,000 | no account filed |
| December 2016 | Tornado (EF0) | Alton | $5,000 | This tornado briefly touched down northwest of Alton. Along its short path, it damaged trees, tipped over an empty bulk bin and caused very minor damage to a home. The maximum wind speed was estimated to be 85 MPH. |
| June 2008 | Hail | Alton | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alton | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alton | $4,000 | One power pole was snapped due to thunderstorm wind gusts estimated around 70 MPH. Severe wind gusts directly preceded the rain, as it blew all loose vegetation out of the pastures into the north-south oriented fences. |
| May 2008 | Hail | Alton | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Alton | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Alton | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Alton | $2,000 | no account filed |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alton | $1,000 | Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH resulted in minor tree damage in Alton. |
| May 1993 | Hail | Alton | $500 | no account filed |
| August 1993 | Hail | Alton | $500 | no account filed |
| May 1993 | Hail | Alton | $500 | no account filed |
| May 1993 | Hail | Alton | $500 | no account filed |
| July 2020 | Flash Flood | Alton | - | Storm total rainfall amounts ranged from 4 to 7 inches across the area. The primary impact was water affecting county roads. |
| April 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alton | - | A 61 MPH wind gust was measured by a mesonet station located 5 miles northeast of Alton. |
| April 2017 | Hail | Alton | - | Hail up to the size of quarters was reported and was four inches deep on the ground northwest of Alton. |
| August 2016 | Hail | Alton | - | An unofficial observation of at least 1.5 inches of rain occurred in the hour leading up to the hail report. |
| July 2016 | Heavy Rain | Alton | - | A storm total rainfall amount of 3.27 inches was reported. |
| June 2014 | Heavy Rain | Alton | - | A storm total rainfall amount of 3.40 inches was reported. |
| June 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alton | - | Thunderstorms wind gusts of 60 to 70 mph occurred. |
| June 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alton | - | An estimated wind gust of 70 mph occurred. |
| June 2011 | Heavy Rain | Alton | - | The Cooperative Observer reported 3.10 of storm total rainfall. |
| June 2011 | Hail | Alton | - | The hail lasted at least 15 minutes. |
| July 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alton | - | Wind gusts estimated at 60 MPH knocked down numerous small tree limbs, causing power outages. |
| July 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alton | - | Numerous small tree limbs knocked down in town. |
| April 2005 | Tornado (F0) | Alton | - | A tornado in far northwest Osborne County drifted west across rural areas of the county west of Alton. No damage was reported. |
| May 1995 | Hail | Alton | - | Supercell thunderstorms produced baseball-size hail at Osborne and Damar and wind gusts to 65 mph at Palco. In Rooks County, the wind and hail combined to destroy 15 percent of the wheat crop and 25 percent of the alfalfa crop. Damage to 22 farm buildings was estimated at $50 thousand. Brief tornado touchdowns occurred near Codell and Plainville. |
| May 2025 | Hail | Alton | - | no account filed |
| August 2021 | Hail | Alton | - | no account filed |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alton | - | no account filed |
| May 2017 | Hail | Alton | - | no account filed |
| April 2017 | Hail | Alton | - | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Hail | Alton | - | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Hail | Alton | - | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Hail | Alton | - | no account filed |
| September 2014 | Hail | Alton | - | no account filed |
| May 2013 | Hail | Alton | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Alton | - | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Hail | Alton | - | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Hail | Alton | - | 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.
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 Alton | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2233551 | 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 472257. 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.
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.




