Reading, Kansas
14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1983. It stands in Reading Township. It lies in ZIP code area 66868. It stands on Duck Creek. The Survey maps it on the Reading quadrangle. 181 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,099 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresReading fell from 231 to 181 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 | 231 | |
| 2020 | 181 | -50 (-22%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 14 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
- 1971 USGS Reading quadrangle1:24000
- 1983 USGS Lawrence quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
20 since 2007Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 20 fires within 5 miles of Reading between 2007 and 2018, burning about 1,113 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9 |
| Debris and open burning | 8 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Other causes | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 August 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kansas Forest Service | 46 |
| 3 August 2018 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Kansas Forest Service | 008-048 |
| 2 August 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Kansas Forest Service | 45 |
| 8 April 2015 | Debris and open burning | 40 acres | Kansas Forest Service | 27 |
| 7 April 2015 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Kansas Forest Service | 26 |
| 4 April 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 acres | Kansas Forest Service | 015-018 |
| 11 April 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Kansas Forest Service | 30 |
| 10 April 2015 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Kansas Forest Service | 29 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
33 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Reading in 33 storm reports between 1996 and 2026: 21 hail, 10 thunderstorm wind, 1 heavy rain, 1 tornado. The reports record 1 death and 5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2011 | Tornado (EF3) | Reading | 1 killed, 5 hurt, $2,280,000 | Another tornado developed 3 miles southwest of Reading. This tornado proceeded to hit the town of Reading producing EF3 damage in the city. The tornado continued on a path that took it into Osage County Kansas where it produced additional damage before lifting approximately 4 miles south of Osage City. A single story home in Reading was swept off its foundation. There were several two story homes with significant damage to the second story or completely removed. A well anchored mobile home was lofted and thrown 50 yards into a tree. Vehicles were rolled and large chemical tank was thrown 100 yards. Winds estimated at 140 mph. |
| June 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Reading | $1,000 | Strong winds did minor damage to a barn and a few sheds. |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Reading | - | Report of power poles downed. |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Reading | - | Roof partially removed from large outbuilding garage. |
| September 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Reading | - | Tree limbs and power lines blown down and blocking roads. |
| May 2018 | Hail | Reading | - | Delayed report via KVOE radio. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Reading | - | Multiple trees were uprooted within the city of Reading. Delayed report. |
| February 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Reading | - | Tree branches reported to be flying around. |
| July 2008 | Hail | Reading | - | Reports from both the public and trained spotters of hail one inch to one and a half inches in diameter were received. Wind driven hail broke a few windows on a spotter's home. |
| June 2008 | Hail | Reading | - | Relayed by kvoe radio. |
| April 2003 | Heavy Rain | Reading | - | Heavy rains of two to 4 inches in a short time caused some localized flooding in the Reading area. |
| April 2026 | Hail | Reading | - | no account filed |
| April 2026 | Hail | Reading | - | no account filed |
| April 2026 | Hail | Reading | - | no account filed |
| May 2018 | Hail | Reading | - | no account filed |
| May 2016 | Hail | Reading | - | no account filed |
| March 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Reading | - | no account filed |
| May 2009 | Hail | Reading | - | no account filed |
| June 2009 | Hail | Reading | - | no account filed |
| July 2008 | Hail | Reading | - | no account filed |
| July 2008 | Hail | Reading | - | no account filed |
| February 2007 | Hail | Reading | - | no account filed |
| May 2006 | Hail | Reading | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | Reading | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | Reading | - | no account filed |
| February 2004 | Hail | Reading | - | no account filed |
| August 2004 | Hail | Reading | - | no account filed |
| August 2004 | Hail | Reading | - | no account filed |
| August 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Reading | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | Reading | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Reading | - | no account filed |
| May 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Reading | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Hail | Reading | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lang | 7.8 miles | 17 | |
| Miller | 8.1 miles | 14 | |
| Neosho Rapids | 10.5 miles | 16 | |
| Admire | 11.4 miles | 15 | |
| Emporia Junction | 13.4 miles | 18 | |
| Berkeley Hills | 14.2 miles | 18 | |
| Emporia | 14.3 miles | 18 | |
| Hartford | 14.6 miles | 16 |
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 Reading | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2673322 | 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 479585. 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.







