Columbus, Kansas
20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Columbus City. It lies in ZIP code area 66725. The Survey maps it on the Columbus quadrangle. 2,929 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 912 feet above sea level.
Research this city
On record in Columbus
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 1 record
Columbus Public Carnegie Librarylisted 1987
Population over time
2 figuresColumbus fell from 3,312 to 2,929 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 | 3,312 | |
| 2020 | 2,929 | -383 (-12%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 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
- 1918 USGS Columbus quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1947 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Columbus quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000
- 1986 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:100000
- 1991 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
43 since 2015Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 43 fires within 5 miles of Columbus between 2015 and 2018, burning about 86 acres in total. None started naturally. 7 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 | 24 |
| Debris and open burning | 12 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 7 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Cherokee County | 221 |
| 29 September 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Cherokee County | 237 |
| 25 September 2017 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Cherokee County | 234 |
| 4 August 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Kansas Forest Service | 213 |
| 28 July 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kansas Forest Service | 141 |
| 25 July 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kansas Forest Service | 144 |
| 24 June 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Cherokee County | 168 |
| 24 June 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Cherokee County | 166 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
60 of 137 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Columbus in 137 storm reports between 1993 and 2026: 51 thunderstorm wind, 44 hail, 33 flash flood, 3 tornado. The reports record 1 injury. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2026 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | 1 hurt, $25,000 | Thunderstorm winds caused the side of a house to blow in and collapse. There was one injury. |
| June 2007 | Flash Flood | Columbus | $1,150,000 | Another stationary band of heavy rain occurred on the night of June 11th and the morning of June 12th. In response, significant flooding occurred in all areas of the county. The Spring and Neosho rivers remained flooded, causing damage to homes and several road systems. |
| May 2020 | Hail | Columbus | $250,000 | Hail to the size of golf balls fell in the towns of Columbus and Crestline. Roof and vehicle damage occurred along the path of hail. |
| September 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $175,000 | A portion of the Central Junior High School Gym roof was damaged by severe thunderstorm winds. This allowed rainfall to to enter the gym with nearly four inches of standing water accumulating on the gym floor. |
| July 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $100,000 | A derecho caused major damage to areas of extreme southeast Kansas and southwest Missouri during the early morning hours of July 4th. In Cherokee County Kansas, golf ball size hail and winds in excess of 70 mph damaged many homes and farm structures countywide. One mobile home was completely destroyed as it rolled over several times while the storm passed. Occupants had moved into a storm shelter prior to the storm and no injuries occurred. |
| April 1998 | Hail | Columbus | $100,000 | Hail, up to golf ball size, fell in the Columbus area accumulating to a depth of two inches. There was extensive car and roof damage, especially in the north part of town. Numerous reports of funnel clouds were received in the area, but no tornado touchdowns were confirmed. |
| April 1999 | Tornado (F1) | Columbus | $100,000 | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Columbus | $50,000 | no account filed |
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $32,000 | A tree fell down onto a house and a truck. Additionally, multiple powerlines and trees were down around town. |
| April 2026 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $30,000 | Several power poles were reported broken with downed power lines and power outages. |
| April 2026 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $25,000 | Several trees and power lines were reported down. |
| June 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $25,000 | Several large trees were downed by high winds across the city. Some minor roof and structural damage was reported. |
| August 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $25,000 | A National Weather Service storm survey found evidence of 75 mph straight line winds causing some tree damage and minor structure damage west southwest of Columbus. |
| July 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $25,000 | no account filed |
| February 2017 | Hail | Columbus | $20,000 | There several reports of damage to cars with the golf ball size hail. |
| February 2017 | Hail | Columbus | $20,000 | There were several reports of damage to cars with the golf ball size hail. |
| August 2020 | Hail | Columbus | $15,000 | A picture of hail to the size of tennis balls was received via social media from a rural part of the county. Minor roof and vehicle damage occurred to the farm stead where the hail occurred. |
| June 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $10,000 | Emergency management suspects that a microburst hit the town of Columbus. Several trees of all sizes were destroyed along with one roof on a garage that was ripped off. |
| June 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $10,000 | Several trees were down in the city of Columbus. One tree fell on a house causing damage. |
| April 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $10,000 | Severe thunderstorm wind gusts destroyed a barn. |
| May 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $10,000 | no account filed |
| February 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $5,000 | Several small outbuildings and sheds were damaged. There was a home with shingles blown off the roof. |
| October 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $5,000 | A four foot diameter tree was blown down near 30th Street and Highway 69. There was hail damage to the house siding and roof damage. Time was estimated by radar. |
| May 2015 | Flash Flood | Columbus | $5,000 | A swift water rescue was performed on the northwest side of Columbus. A small creek flooded a county road and a mother with two children had to be rescued from their vehicle. |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $5,000 | Several trees and power poles were blown down. |
| March 2007 | Flash Flood | Columbus | $5,000 | Thunderstorms producing heavy rain continued to develop over portions of southeast Kansas causing flash flooding of several creeks and tributaries. Brush Creek near Columbus flooded Clems Road east of Highway 69. A portion of Highway K-7 was closed to traffic by the Kansas Department of Transportation after it was damaged by flowing water and collapsed. The intersection of Highways 69 and 103 was also underwater and impassable to motorists near Weir. Four miles west of Lawton, roads east and west of the intersection of Lawton Road and NW 40th Street were under as much as six feet of water. |
| June 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $5,000 | Large trees were uprooted and power lines blown down in the Mineral and Scammon areas. |
| May 1993 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $5,000 | A series of slow moving thunderstorms produced winds near 70 miles an hour that caused tree and power line damage. They also dropped large hail in a few spots and widespread heavy rain that resulted in flash flooding. |
| June 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $5,000 | no account filed |
| April 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $3,000 | Thunderstorm winds downed power lines and damaged a transformer. |
| September 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $3,000 | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $2,000 | Emergency management reported a large tree down. |
| August 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $2,000 | Severe thunderstorm wind gusts downed one power pole. |
| July 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | $1,000 | A large tree branch was blown down onto a power line. |
| January 2026 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | - | A flag pole at the Courthouse was bent over by strong winds. A personal weather station 6 miles NNW of the Courthouse recorded a wind gust of 57 mph. |
| April 2026 | Flash Flood | Columbus | - | Several reports of significant street flooding were reported. |
| April 2026 | Hail | Columbus | - | Quarter sized hail was reported. |
| April 2026 | Hail | Columbus | - | Hail to the size of ping pong balls, 40 mph winds and heavy rainfall were reported. |
| April 2026 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | - | A large tree was reported down closing the road. |
| April 2026 | Flash Flood | Columbus | - | Multiple roads in town were reported flooded and impassable. |
| August 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | - | Report of a 62mph measured wind gust in Cherokee County. |
| March 2023 | Hail | Columbus | - | Nickle sized hail was reported via social media. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | - | A large limb was reported downed by high winds. |
| May 2022 | Flash Flood | Columbus | - | Numerous streets around Columbus along with several other rural roads around the county were flooded. |
| June 2021 | Flash Flood | Columbus | - | Several city roads were reported as flooded. |
| March 2020 | Flood | Columbus | - | Multiple low water crossings in Columbus and eastern Cherokee County were flooded due to runoff from recent rainfall over the previous 6 to 12 hours. |
| May 2020 | Hail | Columbus | - | Ping pong ball sized hail was reported in a mainly rural area. |
| May 2019 | Heavy Rain | Columbus | - | The COOP observer measured a 24 hour rainfall total of 2.50 inches. |
| August 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | - | Numerous large tree limbs were reported down across town. |
| May 2019 | Heavy Rain | Columbus | - | The 24 hour rainfall accumulation measured by a Cooperative Observer was 3.97 inches. The rain began on April 30th. |
| July 2018 | Hail | Columbus | - | Nickle size hail was reported. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | - | Several large tree limbs were blown down. |
| April 2017 | Flash Flood | Columbus | - | Highway 7 was flooded at several locations north of Columbus. Numerous secondary roads were flooded throughout the county. |
| April 2017 | Flash Flood | Columbus | - | Numerous low water crossings were flooded throughout Cherokee County. |
| September 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | - | There were small tree limbs blown down in Columbus. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbus | - | Several tree limbs were blown down in Columbus. |
| October 2016 | Flash Flood | Columbus | - | Numerous low water crossings were flooded west of Columbus. |
| October 2016 | Flash Flood | Columbus | - | A quarter mile section of Northwest 30th Street had one foot of water flowing over the road. |
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 Columbus | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2232985 | 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 469479. 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.










