Cherokee, Kansas
20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Sheridan Township. It lies in ZIP code area 66724. The Survey maps it on the Cherokee quadrangle. 590 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 945 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresCherokee fell from 714 to 590 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 | 714 | |
| 2020 | 590 | -124 (-17%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
12 surveys from 20 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.
- 1886 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:125000
- 1894 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:125000, 6 printings
- 1943 USGS Cherokee quadrangle1:62500
- 1945 USGS Cherokee quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1947 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Cherokee quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:100000
- 1991 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
86 since 2015Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 86 fires within 5 miles of Cherokee between 2015 and 2020, burning about 735 acres in total. None started naturally. 14 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 | 42 |
| Debris and open burning | 22 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 14 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 August 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kansas Forest Service | 107 |
| 1 August 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kansas Forest Service | 80127 |
| 8 July 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Kansas Forest Service | not named |
| 8 July 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kansas Forest Service | 17073 |
| 27 July 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 4.0 acres | Kansas Forest Service | 15-0041 |
| 21 July 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Kansas Forest Service | 180107 |
| 18 July 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 acres | Cherokee County | 170036 |
| 5 June 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kansas Forest Service | 60514 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Cherokee: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weir Pit & Plant | Clay | Producer |
Storms near this place
19 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Cherokee in 19 storm reports between 1993 and 2026: 11 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2019 | Hail | Cherokee | $20,000 | Ping pong ball sized hail caused minor damage to vehicles. |
| February 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cherokee | $5,000 | Several trees and power lines were blown down in the town of Cherokee. |
| February 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cherokee | $5,000 | A roof was blown off of a large barn. |
| May 1993 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cherokee | $5,000 | Thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 miles an hour hit Cherokee. Some tree damage resulted. |
| April 2026 | Hail | Cherokee | - | Quarter sized hail was reported. |
| April 2025 | Hail | Cherokee | - | Quarter sized hail was reported. |
| June 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cherokee | - | Wind gusts between 50 and 60mph were estimated by the fire department. |
| April 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cherokee | - | A spotter reported wind gusts up to 60 mph. |
| September 2009 | Heavy Rain | Cherokee | - | In 24 hours, 2.37 inches of rain was measured. |
| August 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cherokee | - | Law enforcement estimated thunderstorms winds of 60 MPH near Highway 400 and 160th Street. |
| October 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cherokee | - | A tree was blown down onto a parked fire truck. |
| May 2018 | Hail | Cherokee | - | no account filed |
| April 2012 | Hail | Cherokee | - | no account filed |
| June 2011 | Hail | Cherokee | - | no account filed |
| June 2011 | Hail | Cherokee | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Cherokee | - | no account filed |
| April 2005 | Hail | Cherokee | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Cherokee | - | no account filed |
| September 2001 | Hail | Cherokee | - | 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 Cherokee | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2901491 | 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 469610. 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.











