Kensington, Kansas
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Cedar Township. It lies in ZIP code area 66951. The Survey maps it on the Kensington quadrangle. 399 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,778 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresKensington fell from 473 to 399 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 | 473 | |
| 2020 | 399 | -74 (-16%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 13 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.
- 1893 USGS Phillipsburg quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1955 USGS Beloit quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1959 USGS Beloit quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1973 USGS Kensington quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Norton quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
6 since 2015Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 6 fires within 5 miles of Kensington between 2015 and 2017, burning about 3 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 |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 September 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Kansas Forest Service | 2015015 |
| 16 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kansas Forest Service | 2015017 |
| 9 March 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kansas Forest Service | 2016004 |
| 18 March 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Smith County | 2017011 |
| 19 February 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Smith County | 2017008 |
| 12 February 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Smith County | 2017006 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
53 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Kensington in 53 storm reports between 1994 and 2024: 33 hail, 15 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood, 1 funnel cloud. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2023 | Hail | Kensington | $150,000 | Hail up to ping pong to golf ball size was reported in Kensington. |
| October 2017 | Hail | Kensington | $150,000 | Hail ranging in size from golf balls to hen eggs was reported in and near Kensington. |
| June 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kensington | $100,000 | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kensington | $50,000 | A line of thunderstorms producing strong winds moved through Smith County, with gusts estimated near 80 MPH in Kensington. A wind gust of 68 MPH was measured at the Smith Center Airport AWOS at 11:05 p.m. CDT and a gust of 63 MPH was measured by a Kansas Department of Transportation mesonet site 2 miles south of Lebanon at 11:25 p.m. CDT. |
| July 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kensington | $50,000 | Strong thunderstorm winds blew down several power poles in the area. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kensington | $25,000 | Wind gust estimates of 60 to 70 MPH were reported, with the AWOS at the Smith Center Airport measuring a peak gust of 71 MPH. Tree damage was reported in Athol. |
| May 2012 | Hail | Kensington | $25,000 | no account filed |
| April 2003 | Hail | Kensington | $25,000 | no account filed |
| March 2006 | Hail | Kensington | $20,000 | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Hail | Kensington | $20,000 | no account filed |
| August 2015 | Flood | Kensington | $15,000 | Culverts were washed out one mile north of Gaylord and also two miles northeast of Smith Center. Twenty-four hour rain totals as of 7 a.m. CDT on August 5th included: 4.02 inches in Lebanon and 3.26 in Smith Center (NWS cooperative observers). |
| May 1999 | Flash Flood | Kensington | $15,000 | no account filed |
| June 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kensington | $10,000 | Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH resulted in multiple power lines being blown down. |
| June 2008 | Hail | Kensington | $10,000 | Accompanied by winds estimated at 45 mph. |
| May 2007 | Hail | Kensington | $10,000 | no account filed |
| May 2007 | Hail | Kensington | $10,000 | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Hail | Kensington | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Kensington | $10,000 | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Hail | Kensington | $10,000 | no account filed |
| May 2007 | Hail | Kensington | $5,000 | no account filed |
| May 1999 | Hail | Kensington | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kensington | $5,000 | no account filed |
| May 1994 | Hail | Kensington | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 2017 | Hail | Kensington | $3,000 | no account filed |
| June 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kensington | $1,000 | Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH resulted in a few tree limbs being downed and some minor shingle damage. |
| May 1994 | Hail | Kensington | $50 | no account filed |
| July 2023 | Hail | Kensington | - | Nickel size hail was accompanied by wind gusts estimated to be near 55 MPH. |
| April 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kensington | - | Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH along an outflow surge. |
| May 2017 | Heavy Rain | Kensington | - | A total of 3.80 inches of rain had fallen since the previous evening. |
| April 2016 | Tornado (EF0) | Kensington | - | A brief tornado occurred approximately 10 miles north of Kensington. This tornado was viewed by the public and confirmation of the event was provided via a photo. The tornado caused no damage, and remained in the same general area for a few minutes before dissipating. |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kensington | - | Wind gusts estimated near 60 MPH. |
| June 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kensington | - | Law enforcement reported an estimated wind gust of 60 mph. |
| June 2024 | Hail | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| May 2024 | Hail | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| May 2019 | Hail | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| March 2018 | Hail | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| July 2018 | Hail | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| May 2018 | Hail | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| May 2018 | Hail | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| August 2015 | Hail | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| April 2015 | Hail | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Hail | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| May 2006 | Hail | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| April 2003 | Funnel Cloud | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Hail | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Hail | Kensington | - | 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.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athol | 5.9 miles | 12 | |
| Claudell | 7.2 miles | 13 | |
| Cedar | 9.0 miles | 12 | |
| Gaylord | 12.9 miles | 12 | |
| Smith Center | 13.1 miles | 12 | |
| Reamsville | 14.2 miles | 12 | |
| Thornburg | 17.9 miles | 12 | |
| Harlan | 17.9 miles | 12 |
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 Kensington | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2666585 | 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 471944. 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.




