BlockBefore

Canton, Kansas

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Canton Township. It lies in ZIP code area 67428. The Survey maps it on the Canton quadrangle. 685 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,598 feet above sea level.

Canton within McPherson County

On record in Canton

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 2 records

Population over time

2 figures

Canton fell from 748 to 685 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
2010748
2020685-63 (-8%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 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.

Fires near this place

30 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 30 fires within 5 miles of Canton between 2008 and 2020, burning about 2,768 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 1 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
Debris and open burning12
Missing data/not specified/undetermined11
Equipment and vehicle use3
Natural2
Arson/incendiarism1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
5 August 2015Naturalunder an acreKansas Forest Service15-0035
27 August 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresKansas Forest Servicenot named
14 August 2015Debris and open burning8.0 acresKansas Forest Service15-0038
3 July 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresKansas Forest Servicenot named
20 June 2015Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreKansas Forest Service15-0026
7 April 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined500 acresKansas Forest Servicenot named
4 April 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined20 acresKansas Forest Servicenot named
3 April 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreKansas Forest Service15-0015

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in McPherson County

Storms near this place

50 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Canton in 50 storm reports between 1994 and 2026: 23 thunderstorm wind, 20 hail, 5 heavy rain, 1 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2014Thunderstorm WindCanton$250,000Trees and power lines were reported knocked down in and around Canton. A section of rook was taken off of a home west of Canton on Highway 56. The school in Canton reported wind damage to its roof.
June 2011HailCanton$50,000Hail up to baseball size affected the Canton area. The large hail likely inflicted damage to various roofs and vehicles, although the exact amount is unknown. Consequently, property damage amounts are rough estimates.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindCanton$45,000Damaging straight line winds estimated at 80 mph took the roof off a storage shed and severely damaged another shed on a homestead.
June 1994HailCanton$5,000Pea- to golf ball-size hail fell in an area seven to eight miles north of Canton, breaking branches from trees and damaging the soon-to-be harvested wheat crop. Winds of 61 knots were reported with this storm one mile south of Canton.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindCanton-Measured wind gust from a Union Pacific weather station.
August 2024Thunderstorm WindCanton-A trained spotter reported tree limbs were down from estimated 60 mph wind gusts.
June 2023Heavy RainCanton-Twenty four hour total from a Cocorahs observer of 1.82 inches.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindCanton-Canton Fire Department stated that powerlines were down.
July 2022Heavy RainCanton-A Coop observer reported 2.71 inches in 24 hours.
November 2022Heavy RainCanton-A Coop observer reported 2.11 inches of rainfall.
May 2021Heavy RainCanton-This was a 24 hour rainfall report of 4.67 inches from the CO-OP observer station GOEK1 Goessel 2 WNW.
May 2021Heavy RainCanton-This was a 24 hour rainfall report of 3.39 inches Cocorahs stations KS-MP-21 Canton 3.2 N.
August 2021Thunderstorm WindCanton-A mesonet station near Canton measured a 60 mph gust.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindCanton-Wind damage to a steel grain bin was noted and a center pivot irrigation system was blown over.
May 2017HailCanton-The trained spotter reported the hail ranged from quarter to ping pong ball-sized and covered the ground. The hail occurred for 5 minutes. The time of the event is estimated from radar.
August 2015Thunderstorm WindCanton-A measured wind gust was reported by local law enforcement.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindCanton-Winds were estimated at around 60 mph.
May 2010Tornado (EF0)Canton-Very weak tornado briefly touched down in an open field.
July 2001Thunderstorm WindCanton-Tree damage.
October 1998Flash FloodCanton-Severe thunderstorms producing 2-3 inches of rain caused flooding in and around Canton near the North Branch of the Cottonwood River.
April 2026HailCanton-no account filed
April 2026Thunderstorm WindCanton-no account filed
April 2026HailCanton-no account filed
July 2024Thunderstorm WindCanton-no account filed
July 2024Thunderstorm WindCanton-no account filed
June 2024Thunderstorm WindCanton-no account filed
August 2024Thunderstorm WindCanton-no account filed
May 2018HailCanton-no account filed
August 2015HailCanton-no account filed
June 2011HailCanton-no account filed
June 2011HailCanton-no account filed
June 2011HailCanton-no account filed
June 2011HailCanton-no account filed
August 2006Thunderstorm WindCanton-no account filed
May 2005HailCanton-no account filed
May 2005Thunderstorm WindCanton-no account filed
June 2004HailCanton-no account filed
June 2004Thunderstorm WindCanton-no account filed
July 2004HailCanton-no account filed
July 2004Thunderstorm WindCanton-no account filed
July 2003HailCanton-no account filed
May 2002HailCanton-no account filed
June 2002Thunderstorm WindCanton-no account filed
June 2002Thunderstorm WindCanton-no account filed
July 2001HailCanton-no account filed
September 2000HailCanton-no account filed
May 1997HailCanton-no account filed
June 1996Thunderstorm WindCanton-no account filed
June 1996HailCanton-no account filed
June 1994Thunderstorm WindCanton-no account filed

Every storm recorded in McPherson 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
Galva5.8 miles16
New Gottland10.7 miles16
Roxbury11.4 miles17
Elyria12.4 miles16
McPherson12.6 miles16
Moundridge13.5 miles15
Hilton13.7 miles16
Johnstown15.0 miles16

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 CantonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1917993The 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 485453. 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.