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Galena, Kansas

18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Galena City. It lies in ZIP code area 66739. It stands on Spring Branch. The Survey maps it on the Baxter Springs quadrangle. 2,761 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 902 feet above sea level.

Galena within Cherokee County

On record in Galena

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

Galena fell from 3,085 to 2,761 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
20103,085
20202,761-324 (-11%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 18 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

99 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 99 fires within 5 miles of Galena between 2005 and 2020, burning about 930 acres in total. 1 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 burning54
Missing data/not specified/undetermined31
Equipment and vehicle use7
Smoking3
Recreation and ceremony2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Natural1

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
29 September 2015Debris and open burning2.0 acresKansas Forest Service177
2 August 2018Debris and open burning2.0 acresKansas Forest Service148
12 August 2015Debris and open burning5.0 acresKansas Forest Service156
6 July 2015Debris and open burning5.0 acresKansas Forest Service138
5 July 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresKansas Forest Service137
21 July 2018Equipment and vehicle use10 acresKansas Forest Service188
15 July 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresKansas Forest Service141
29 June 2015Debris and open burning1.0 acresKansas Forest Service131

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Cherokee County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 362 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 362 workings within 5 miles of Galena: 362 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Lead, Zinc, Zinc, Lead, Zinc. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Belleville Strip PitZincPast Producer1900
UnknownZincPast Producer1890, 1916
W. C. MineZincPast Producer1926, 1942
A. W. C. # 1 MineZinc, LeadPast Producer
A. W. C. # 3 MineZinc, LeadPast Producer
A. W. C. MineZinc, LeadPast Producer
Adams-Hicks MineZinc, LeadPast Producer
Admiralty MineZinc, LeadPast Producer
Airdale MineZinc, LeadPast Producer
Albert MineZinc, LeadPast Producer

Every working recorded in Cherokee County

Storms near this place

38 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Galena in 38 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 15 thunderstorm wind, 13 hail, 5 flash flood, 2 flood. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2011Thunderstorm WindGalena1 hurtA SUV was blown off the road at 7th and Chico Road.
March 2025Thunderstorm WindGalena$80,000Numerous trees were uprooted and several roofs were taken off homes and a business in Galena, Kansas.
April 2025Thunderstorm WindGalena$75,000Multiple power poles and lines were reported down north of town.
May 2019Tornado (EF1)Galena$25,000A National Weather Service storm survey determined that an EF-1 tornado with maximum winds of 100 mph touched down just west of the Missouri state line and traveled a half mile to the northeast before passing into Missouri. As it crossed the border the storm intensified to an EF3 with an estimated 140 mph winds. This tornado was produced by the supercell that spawned the Treece tornado and continued to produce funnel clouds very near the ground through Riverton and the north Galena area before the tornado touched down near Woodchuck Drive and caused roof damage to two homes and downed several trees as it crossed into Missouri along SE 118th Street.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindGalena$10,000Several power poles were snapped south of Galena.
November 1995Thunderstorm WindGalena$10,000Thunderstorm winds heavily damaged the roofs of several buildings and blew windows out of cars in Galena.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindGalena$3,000Report of trees down in the road.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindGalena$2,000Large tree branches and a tree was snapped off of Bagdad road south of Galena.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindGalena$2,000Social media report of trees down.
May 2011Thunderstorm WindGalena$2,000Emergency management reported a large tree down.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindGalena$1,000Eight inch tree limbs were downed near Galena, Kansas.
May 2021Thunderstorm WindGalena$500Tree limbs up to an inch in diameter were broken and some shingles were removed from a roof.
April 2025HailGalena-Quarter sized hail was reported.
July 2024Heavy RainGalena-A Mesonet station in Galena measured a 24-hour rainfall total of 3.46 inches.
March 2021HailGalena-Quarter sized hail was reported via MPing.
April 2020Thunderstorm WindGalena-A large, 10 inch diameter tree was snapped.
July 2020HailGalena-Penny sized hail was reported via MPing.
August 2020HailGalena-Quarter sized hail was reported.
July 2019Thunderstorm WindGalena-Wind gusts between 60 and 65 mph were reported on the west side of Joplin in mainly rural areas of the county.
May 2019Flash FloodGalena-Flash flooding on SE 100th Street near Boston Mills Road closed the road to traffic for several hours.
May 2019HailGalena-A trained spotter reported half-dollar sized hail on Bagdad Hill, about 1 mile west of the Missouri/Kansas state line.
May 2017HailGalena-Golf ball size hail was reported near the Downstream Casino.
May 2017HailGalena-Golf ball size hail was reported near Galena.
March 2012FloodGalena-Emergency management reported that the Murphy Blvd and Main Street low water bridge was closed due to flooding.
April 2008Flash FloodGalena-Three to five inches of rain fell over Cherokee County. Nearly all low lying areas that typically flood during periods of excessive rainfall were flooded. Areas that were impacted the greatest occurred within the lowlands of northwest Cherokee County. Cherry Creek, Lightning Creek, and the Neosho River are all located in this region. All three of these water systems flooded, resulting in several thousand acres of farmland to flood.
May 2008FloodGalena-Widespread flooding occurred across the county. More specifically, Lightning Creek, Cherry Creek, and Fly Creek all flooded low lying areas and several roads. Street flooding occurred in Baxter Springs.
June 2008Flash FloodGalena-All low lying roads and areas that typically flood during episodes of flooding were flooded. The Emergency Management Director stated that there were too many flooded locations to specify to the NWS. Streams that flooded multiple locations included Cow, Lightning, Brush, Fly, and Cherry creeks.
September 2008Flash FloodGalena-Widespread flooding resulted from three to five inches of rain that fell over Cherokee County. Brush Creek, Lightning Creek, Fly Creek, Cherry Creek, Cow Creek, and Deer Creek all flooded nearby county roads and lowlands.
September 2007Flash FloodGalena-Low lying areas along the Spring River flooded.
May 2011Thunderstorm WindGalena-no account filed
May 2011Funnel CloudGalena-no account filed
June 2010HailGalena-no account filed
June 2010HailGalena-no account filed
February 2009HailGalena-no account filed
April 2003HailGalena-no account filed
September 2001HailGalena-no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindGalena-no account filed
May 1997HailGalena-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Cherokee 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
East Galena0.6 miles18
South Galena0.8 miles18
Empire City0.9 miles18
Riverton3.4 miles18
Lowell3.8 miles18
Quakervale (historical)4.4 miles18
Badger5.7 miles19
Baxter Springs6.2 miles18

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 GalenaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1023040The 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 469360. 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.