BlockBefore

Effingham, Kansas

20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Benton Township. It lies in ZIP code area 66023. The Survey maps it on the Effingham quadrangle. 495 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,135 feet above sea level.

Effingham within Atchison County

Population over time

2 figures

Effingham fell from 546 to 495 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
2010546
2020495-51 (-9%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 20 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

18 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 18 fires within 5 miles of Effingham between 2015 and 2020, burning about 369 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
Debris and open burning12
Smoking3
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2
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
15 September 2015Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreKansas Forest Service2015063
7 May 2018Smoking2.0 acresKansas Forest Service2018060
7 April 2018Debris and open burning30 acresKansas Forest Service2018047
7 March 2015Debris and open burning160 acresKansas Forest Service2015016
7 March 2015Debris and open burning25 acresKansas Forest Service2015015
6 March 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreKansas Forest Service2016023
6 March 2015Debris and open burning20 acresKansas Forest Service2015013
4 March 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreAtchison County2017025

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Atchison County

Storms near this place

41 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Effingham in 41 storm reports between 1994 and 2024: 21 hail, 12 thunderstorm wind, 4 flash flood, 2 tornado. 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
April 2002Tornado (F0)Effingham$25,000An F0 tornado briefly touched down 2 miles west southwest of Effingham Kansas, moving to the northeast around 1/4 of a mile. One house had windows blown out and on the same property a large grain truck was blown over with its windows knocked out.. It also destroyed two sheds and blew hay bales, lumber and debris all over the property.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindEffingham$5,000A roof of a barn was blown off. Six inch diameter tree limbs were snapped off. Thunderstorm wind gusts were estimated up to 70 mph.
June 2000Thunderstorm WindEffingham$5,000A tool shed was blown down.
July 1994Thunderstorm WindEffingham$5,000High winds knocked down trees, power lines and damaged crops. Damage was also reported north of Nortonville.
July 1995HailEffingham$3,000A severe thunderstorm moved across Atchison County between 2230 CST and 1230 CST producing golf ball-size in Effingham and Potter. Pea-size hail and wind gusts up to 50 mph were reported at Cummings and Lancaster. Numerous trees were reported blown down.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindEffingham$1,000Thunderstorm wind gusts were estimated up to 70 mph. Windows on the north side of a home, were blown out.
July 1995Thunderstorm WindEffingham$1,000A severe thunderstorm moved through Atchison County. 60 mph winds were observed at Muscotah and trees were down in Atchison and in Effingham.
October 2024Thunderstorm WindEffingham-Downed trees reported in Effingham.
May 2019Tornado (EF1)Effingham-A low topped supercell produced a tornado in Atchison County Kansas. This supercell was part of a larger group of supercells across northeast Kansas. Structural damage wasn't noted, but several power poles were snapped as a result of the narrow tornado.
October 2014FloodEffingham-Road closed at 294th Street and Edwards Road due to flooding.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindEffingham-Thunderstorm wind gusts were estimated up to 60 mph. The wind caused a 24 inch diameter tree to be blown over, and several other tree branches to be damaged.
October 2007Heavy RainEffingham-Three and two tenths inches of rain reported, since event began overnight.
June 2005Flash FloodEffingham-258th and 230th streets closed due to high water.
August 2005Flash FloodEffingham-254th and Decatur closed due to high water.
October 2005Flash FloodEffingham-Water over road at K-9 and Haskell road.
June 2001Flash FloodEffingham-Roads that remain closed due to flooding include: 59 Hwy at Edwards...US 74 north of Effingham...230th and Ottawa...206th west of Rollins...Kansas 9 and Haskell...Ottawa and 286th...Sherman Rd between 242nd and 246th streets.
June 1998Thunderstorm WindEffingham-Thunderstorm winds knocked down power lines in Effingham resulting in numerous power outages.
May 1997HailEffingham-The county sheriff's office reported dime-size hail along the south side of Effingham just off Highway 159.
April 2023HailEffingham-no account filed
April 2020HailEffingham-no account filed
May 2017HailEffingham-no account filed
April 2016HailEffingham-no account filed
June 2013HailEffingham-no account filed
May 2011HailEffingham-no account filed
August 2011HailEffingham-no account filed
August 2011HailEffingham-no account filed
May 2010HailEffingham-no account filed
May 2009HailEffingham-no account filed
May 2006HailEffingham-no account filed
June 2006Thunderstorm WindEffingham-no account filed
June 2006HailEffingham-no account filed
August 2006Thunderstorm WindEffingham-no account filed
April 2005HailEffingham-no account filed
April 2005HailEffingham-no account filed
June 2004Thunderstorm WindEffingham-no account filed
May 2003HailEffingham-no account filed
March 2002Thunderstorm WindEffingham-no account filed
June 2002HailEffingham-no account filed
June 2001HailEffingham-no account filed
March 2000HailEffingham-no account filed
May 2000HailEffingham-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Atchison 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
Monrovia2.9 miles20
Farmington4.8 miles20
Lancaster6.3 miles20
Muscotah6.7 miles18
Arrington8.3 miles18
Huron8.4 miles20
Shannon8.9 miles27
Cummings9.1 miles21

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 EffinghamAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2901513The 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 473477. 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.