BlockBefore

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.

Kensington within Smith County

Population over time

2 figures

Kensington 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.

YearPeople Change
2010473
2020399-74 (-16%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 13 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

6 since 2015

Regional 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 use2
Debris and open burning2
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2

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
5 September 2015Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreKansas Forest Service2015015
16 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreKansas Forest Service2015017
9 March 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreKansas Forest Service2016004
18 March 2017Debris and open burning1.0 acresSmith County2017011
19 February 2017Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSmith County2017008
12 February 2017Debris and open burning1.0 acresSmith County2017006

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Smith County

Storms near this place

53 since 1994

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2023HailKensington$150,000Hail up to ping pong to golf ball size was reported in Kensington.
October 2017HailKensington$150,000Hail ranging in size from golf balls to hen eggs was reported in and near Kensington.
June 2000Thunderstorm WindKensington$100,000no account filed
June 2014Thunderstorm WindKensington$50,000A 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 1994Thunderstorm WindKensington$50,000Strong thunderstorm winds blew down several power poles in the area.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindKensington$25,000Wind 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 2012HailKensington$25,000no account filed
April 2003HailKensington$25,000no account filed
March 2006HailKensington$20,000no account filed
June 2000HailKensington$20,000no account filed
August 2015FloodKensington$15,000Culverts 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 1999Flash FloodKensington$15,000no account filed
June 2021Thunderstorm WindKensington$10,000Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH resulted in multiple power lines being blown down.
June 2008HailKensington$10,000Accompanied by winds estimated at 45 mph.
May 2007HailKensington$10,000no account filed
May 2007HailKensington$10,000no account filed
July 2004HailKensington$10,000no account filed
June 2002HailKensington$10,000no account filed
July 2000HailKensington$10,000no account filed
May 2007HailKensington$5,000no account filed
May 1999HailKensington$5,000no account filed
July 1994Thunderstorm WindKensington$5,000no account filed
May 1994HailKensington$5,000no account filed
June 2017HailKensington$3,000no account filed
June 2015Thunderstorm WindKensington$1,000Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH resulted in a few tree limbs being downed and some minor shingle damage.
May 1994HailKensington$50no account filed
July 2023HailKensington-Nickel size hail was accompanied by wind gusts estimated to be near 55 MPH.
April 2022Thunderstorm WindKensington-Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH along an outflow surge.
May 2017Heavy RainKensington-A total of 3.80 inches of rain had fallen since the previous evening.
April 2016Tornado (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 2013Thunderstorm WindKensington-Wind gusts estimated near 60 MPH.
June 2013Thunderstorm WindKensington-Law enforcement reported an estimated wind gust of 60 mph.
June 2024HailKensington-no account filed
May 2024HailKensington-no account filed
May 2019HailKensington-no account filed
March 2018HailKensington-no account filed
July 2018HailKensington-no account filed
May 2018HailKensington-no account filed
May 2018HailKensington-no account filed
August 2015HailKensington-no account filed
April 2015HailKensington-no account filed
June 2014HailKensington-no account filed
June 2007HailKensington-no account filed
August 2007Thunderstorm WindKensington-no account filed
August 2007Thunderstorm WindKensington-no account filed
May 2006HailKensington-no account filed
April 2003Funnel CloudKensington-no account filed
May 2003HailKensington-no account filed
May 2002HailKensington-no account filed
July 2001Thunderstorm WindKensington-no account filed
June 1999Thunderstorm WindKensington-no account filed
June 1999Thunderstorm WindKensington-no account filed
May 1996HailKensington-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Smith 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
Athol5.9 miles12
Claudell7.2 miles13
Cedar9.0 miles12
Gaylord12.9 miles12
Smith Center13.1 miles12
Reamsville14.2 miles12
Thornburg17.9 miles12
Harlan17.9 miles12

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 KensingtonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2666585The 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.