Melvern, Kansas
16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1983. It stands in Melvern Township. It lies in ZIP code area 66510. It stands on Wolf Creek. The Survey maps it on the Lyndon quadrangle. 356 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,014 feet above sea level.
On record in Melvern
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
Population over time
2 figuresMelvern fell from 385 to 356 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 | 385 | |
| 2020 | 356 | -29 (-8%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 16 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.
- 1889 USGS Burlingame quadrangle1:125000
- 1894 USGS Burlingame quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1947 USGS Lawrence quadrangle1:250000
- 1950 USGS Lawrence quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Lawrence quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1961 USGS Lawrence quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Lyndon quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1983 USGS Lawrence quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
53 since 2015Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 53 fires within 5 miles of Melvern between 2015 and 2018, burning about 388 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 burning | 37 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Kansas Forest Service | 42 |
| 1 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Kansas Forest Service | 39 |
| 10 August 2018 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Kansas Forest Service | 76 |
| 12 July 2018 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Kansas Forest Service | 69 |
| 8 April 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Osage County | 33 |
| 5 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Kansas Forest Service | 91 |
| 4 April 2015 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Kansas Forest Service | 23 |
| 29 April 2015 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Kansas Forest Service | 28 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
53 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Melvern in 53 storm reports between 1993 and 2024: 33 hail, 11 thunderstorm wind, 3 tornado, 2 funnel cloud. The reports record 7 injuries. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Melvern | 5 hurt, $2,000 | Strong winds overturned trailers at Melvern Lake resulting in minor damage and minor injuries to 5 people. |
| May 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Melvern | 2 hurt, $6,000 | Strong winds blew several tents over as well as several pull behind vehicles. Two children received minor injuries. |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Melvern | $200,000 | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Melvern | $20,000 | Strong winds hit near Melvern. Considerable damage was reported. A roof was blown off a shed. Trees were reported snapped or twisted. A camper shell was carried over one half mile. Power poles were snapped leaving power outages up to 10 hours. |
| June 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Melvern | $3,000 | Strong winds blew down tree limbs doing minor damage to property and buildings. |
| May 2006 | Heavy Rain | Melvern | $1,000 | Trained spotters measured 2.60 inches to 3 inches of rain in a 1 hour period between 5:30 PM and 6:30 PM CST. from thunderstorms. One spotter reported a total rainfall of 3.90 inches of rain at 7:45 PM CST. Extensive street flooding was reported. |
| April 2003 | Hail | Melvern | $1,000 | Large hail damaged some windows near Melvern. |
| June 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Melvern | - | Estimated wind gust north of Waverly. |
| December 2021 | Hail | Melvern | - | Hen egg sized hail from photo on social media. |
| May 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Melvern | - | Tree and outbuilding damage. Wind speeds estimated near 75 MPH. |
| May 2017 | Hail | Melvern | - | Several golf ball size hail stones were reported. |
| May 2016 | Flash Flood | Melvern | - | Flooding is occurring at 285th Road, north of Melvern. The road is closed. |
| May 2015 | Flood | Melvern | - | Flooding of low water crossing on California rd. |
| November 2015 | Hail | Melvern | - | Wind gusts between 50-60 mph. |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Melvern | - | A 4 ft diameter tree blown onto house. |
| May 2011 | Funnel Cloud | Melvern | - | A storm chaser witnessed a funnel cloud near Lyndon. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Melvern | - | An NWS employee reported a 65 mph wind gust in Carbondale. A trained spotter reported a 60 mph wind gust in Melvern twenty minutes prior. |
| June 2010 | Tornado (EF0) | Melvern | - | A homeowner witnessed a small funnel descend toward the ground and produce damage to a 3 telephone poles before lifting to her northeast. It was described as a thin white funnel cloud and was just above the ground and did not do any other damage. This account was relayed through county law enforcement. |
| June 2010 | Flash Flood | Melvern | - | A trained spotter reported numerous roadways with water flowing over them. The spotter reported up to 1 foot of flowing water around Shawnee heights Road and 301st Road in Osage County. Another observer reported 1 foot of flowing water across several roads in the Quenemo and Melvern areas. Those roads were all subsequently closed until the water receded. |
| April 2006 | Hail | Melvern | - | At Melvern Lake. |
| May 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Melvern | - | Semi-truck blown over on i-35. |
| May 1993 | Tornado (F0) | Melvern | - | A small tornado hit briefly in open country with no reported or observed damage. |
| August 2019 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| May 2017 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| November 2015 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| April 2011 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| April 2011 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| April 2011 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| April 2011 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| March 2011 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| May 2009 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| May 2009 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| July 2008 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| July 2008 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| February 2007 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| February 2007 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| February 2007 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| February 2007 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| September 2005 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| April 2003 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| April 2003 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| April 2003 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| July 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Funnel Cloud | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Tornado (F0) | Melvern | - | no account filed |
| March 1998 | Hail | Melvern | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Olivet | 6.3 miles | 17 | |
| Ridgeton | 7.4 miles | 17 | |
| Lyndon | 7.5 miles | 16 | |
| Quenemo | 7.7 miles | 14 | |
| Lyndon Station | 9.6 miles | 15 | |
| Vassar | 9.7 miles | 15 | |
| Arvonia | 12.4 miles | 17 | |
| Osage City | 13.3 miles | 14 |
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 Melvern | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1916979 | 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 477555. 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.








