BlockBefore

Colony, Kansas

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Ozark Township. It lies in ZIP code area 66015. The Survey maps it on the Colony quadrangle. 381 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,129 feet above sea level.

Colony within Anderson County

Population over time

2 figures

Colony fell from 408 to 381 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
2010408
2020381-27 (-7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 16 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

38 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 38 fires within 5 miles of Colony between 2015 and 2020, burning about 747 acres in total. None 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined20
Debris and open burning16
Arson/incendiarism1
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
4 July 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresKansas Forest Servicenot named
29 July 2018Equipment and vehicle use5.0 acresKansas Forest Service1851077
22 June 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresKansas Forest Service1851065
19 June 2018Debris and open burning6.0 acresKansas Forest Service1851062
7 May 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined100 acresKansas Forest Service1551055
9 April 2020Debris and open burning10 acresKansas Forest Servicenot named
21 April 2015Debris and open burning1.0 acresKansas Forest Service1551080
20 April 2018Debris and open burning42 acresKansas Forest Service1851049

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Anderson County

Storms near this place

46 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Colony in 46 storm reports between 1994 and 2026: 21 hail, 13 thunderstorm wind, 7 flash flood, 3 tornado. The reports record 3 injuries. 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 2003Tornado (F2)Colony3 hurt, $1,100,000A tornado formed 5 miles southeast of Colony and traveled a 15 mile path northeast before entering Linn county and dissipating. While in Anderson county the tornado injured 3 people, destroyed 7 homes and seriously damaged 2 others.
June 2007Flash FloodColony$50,000Numerous secondary roads under water. 2.5 feet of water flowing over 1700 road and Geary road. 3 feet of fast flowing water reported over southwest Iowa road just west of highway 169.
July 2006LightningColony$50,000Lightning from a severe electrical storm brought power outages to several hundred customers throughout Anderson County. The time of the lightning strike in Colony is estimated. However, this strike at the telephone cooperative station in Colony produced some of the worst damage the technicians there had ever seen.
June 1998Thunderstorm WindColony$50,000no account filed
September 2012Thunderstorm WindColony$2,000Near Colony 2 small out buildings were damaged and a few trees were down near the Intersection of 200 and Delaware.
September 2009FloodColony$1,000One car stalled in a low water crossing while attempting to drive through water.
April 2026Thunderstorm WindColony-Also observed pea size hail.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindColony-Roof blown off from house.
March 2023HailColony-Nickel sized hail reported.
June 2021Flash FloodColony-Water flowing across SW 300 Rd from Lone Elm to Colony.
December 2021Thunderstorm WindColony-Trained spotter reported 70 mph wind gust.
August 2019Flash FloodColony-Road closed near Colony due to flash flooding.
September 2018Flash FloodColony-Observer reported that 8 to 10 inches of water had backed into their front yard, which is very abnormal.
October 2018Flash FloodColony-A water rescue was underway as a vehicle was swept off the road.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindColony-Estimated winds 55-65 MPH.
August 2017Thunderstorm WindColony-Estimated wind gust report.
October 2017Thunderstorm WindColony-Relayed report of power lines down. Radar estimated time.
June 2016Thunderstorm WindColony-Farm outbuilding roof was blown off.
April 2014Flash FloodColony-KDOT closed highway 58 west of Colony due to rising water.
September 2012Thunderstorm WindColony-Tree limbs were down near the intersection of 100 and Delaware.
May 2010Thunderstorm WindColony-A law enforcement officer reported an estimated 60 mph wind.
April 2009HailColony-Hail covering the ground.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindColony-A trained spotter estimated an 80 mph wind gust.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindColony-Large tree limbs down within the town of Colony.
February 2007Tornado (EF1)Colony-Report relayed from storm chaser to KAKE TV, who transmitted the report to NWS-Topeka. An HP-supercell thunderstorm tracked across southern Anderson Couty the evening of the 28th. The supercell thunderstorm produced a tornado that touched down just east of the city of Colony. |The tornado moved northeast and was on the ground for nearly 9 1/2 miles. It lifted around 5 miles east of Welda. The average width of the tornado was 250 yards. Ultimately, over 40 structures were damaged but remarkably no injuries occurred. Most structures reported minor damage. However, numerous trees were toppled and outbuildings destroyed. Power lines were downed resulting in power loss to a number of southeast Anderson county residents. At least one barn was destroyed and several homes received significant structural damage. Windows were blown out of a number of homes as well as cars. The most significant damage occurred to a large span metal horse arena. This arena had steel girders and concrete footings. It was lifted out of the ground and destroyed. Horsemen in the arena at the time the tornado approached found safety in a small interior room and were uninjured. However, a horse and rider who remained in the arena were both thrown 100 feet into a field. But neither the horse nor the rider was seriously injured. Another horse had a steel pipe driven through its head but was not killed. The resident of this property lost his billfold to the tornadic wind. However, in the clean-up the next day, he found his billfold in a bird's nest nearby. An elderly lady who was very deaf was asleep in her house when it was hit by the tornado. The house received significant damage. But she was unhurt and had no idea what happened until a neighbor found her later and explained her house had been hit. The Garnett police chief was racing south behind the storm in his patrol car and nearly lost control when he came upon 3 to 4 inches of solid ice (hail) on the road. Reports indicated that a large amount of hail had fallen along a parallel path 3 to 5 miles north of the tornado. At one farmstead, a railroad car used as a storage shed was pushed off its foundation and rolled three times along the ground, smashing cattle panels and fences. The tornado was rated EF-1.
February 2007Tornado (EF0)Colony-A weak EF-0 tornado touched down briefly in open country producing no damage. It developed from a parent HP-supercell thunderstorm. The path width was around 50 yards and the length was around one mile.
June 2019HailColony-no account filed
July 2019HailColony-no account filed
July 2019HailColony-no account filed
August 2015HailColony-no account filed
August 2015HailColony-no account filed
April 2014HailColony-no account filed
September 2012HailColony-no account filed
June 2011HailColony-no account filed
April 2011HailColony-no account filed
April 2010HailColony-no account filed
February 2007HailColony-no account filed
March 2006HailColony-no account filed
April 2003HailColony-no account filed
April 2003HailColony-no account filed
April 2003HailColony-no account filed
August 2003HailColony-no account filed
July 2003HailColony-no account filed
June 1998HailColony-no account filed
May 1996Flash FloodColony-no account filed
April 1994HailColony-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Anderson 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
Lone Elm6.5 miles17
Welda7.8 miles16
Mont Ida10.1 miles16
Westphalia10.1 miles16
Kincaid11.3 miles17
Selma13.6 miles17
Central13.9 miles17
Bush City15.2 miles17

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 ColonyAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2073681The 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 478124. 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.