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Smith Center, Kansas

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Center Township. It lies in ZIP code area 66967. The Survey maps it on the Smith Center quadrangle. 1,571 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,795 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Smith Center within Smith County

On record in Smith Center

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 4 records

Population over time

2 figures

Smith Center fell from 1,665 to 1,571 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
20101,665
20201,571-94 (-6%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 12 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

12 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 12 fires within 5 miles of Smith Center between 1999 and 2018, burning about 2,602 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 burning6
Equipment and vehicle use3
Missing data/not specified/undetermined3

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
12 September 2017Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSmith County2017063
22 July 2017Debris and open burningunder an acreSmith County2017044
2 July 2018Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreKansas Forest Service2018037
19 June 2017Debris and open burningunder an acreSmith County2017036
15 April 2017Debris and open burningunder an acreSmith County2017028
10 April 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreKansas Forest Service2015028
7 March 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSmith County2017021
6 March 2017Missing data/not specified/undetermined1,100 acresSmith County2017020

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Smith County

Storms near this place

60 of 92 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Smith Center in 92 storm reports between 1993 and 2024: 53 hail, 26 thunderstorm wind, 5 tornado, 4 heavy rain. 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
May 2024HailSmith Center$500,000no account filed
May 2021HailSmith Center$250,000Hail ranging anywhere from pea size to 2 inches in diameter was reported in Smith Center from a number of sources.
July 2004HailSmith Center$100,000Hail ranging in size from pennies to golf balls pounded Smith Center for about 20 minutes.
September 2003Thunderstorm WindSmith Center$100,000no account filed
September 1997Thunderstorm WindSmith Center$80,000no account filed
August 2002Thunderstorm WindSmith Center$75,000no account filed
June 1999Thunderstorm WindSmith Center$65,000no account filed
May 2008HailSmith Center$60,000Hail up to an inch and a half in diameter fell between 836 and 841 PM in the town of Smith Center. Damage from the hail was mainly to roofs, trees and a few windows.
May 2007HailSmith Center$50,000no account filed
May 2007Thunderstorm WindSmith Center$50,000no account filed
May 2002Thunderstorm WindSmith Center$50,000no account filed
June 1999Thunderstorm WindSmith Center$50,000no account filed
August 1998HailSmith Center$50,000no account filed
June 1996HailSmith Center$50,000no account filed
September 1993HailSmith Center$50,000no account filed
May 1998Thunderstorm WindSmith Center$45,000no account filed
September 1997HailSmith Center$40,000no account filed
May 2002HailSmith Center$30,000no account filed
July 2024Thunderstorm WindSmith Center$25,000A wind gust of 62 MPH was measured by the Smith Center Airport AWOS. Social media reports noted tree damage across town, and that about 20 percent of the town lost power.
June 2016Thunderstorm WindSmith Center$25,000Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH accompanied quarter size hail. Tree limbs roughly 4 to 5 inches in diameter were downed.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindSmith Center$25,000Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH.
May 2015HailSmith Center$25,000no account filed
May 2007Thunderstorm WindSmith Center$25,000no account filed
July 2004Thunderstorm WindSmith Center$25,000no account filed
August 2003Thunderstorm WindSmith Center$25,000no account filed
July 2001Thunderstorm WindSmith Center$25,000no account filed
April 2015Tornado (EF0)Smith Center$20,000An EF-0 rated tornado occurred north-northeast of Smith Center, KS. Damage was mainly limited to minor roof damage on an outbuilding, and the path was most likely intermittent. Maximum wind speed was estimated at 75 mph. A combination of radar data, storm survey, photos, and personal accounts were used to determine the approximate location and time of the tornado.
May 2007HailSmith Center$20,000no account filed
May 2006FloodSmith Center$20,000no account filed
June 2000Thunderstorm WindSmith Center$15,000no account filed
June 2008HailSmith Center$10,000Nickel to quarter size hail was reported.
May 2007HailSmith Center$10,000no account filed
May 2007HailSmith Center$10,000no account filed
May 2007HailSmith Center$10,000no account filed
May 2006HailSmith Center$10,000no account filed
May 2006HailSmith Center$10,000no account filed
May 2006Thunderstorm WindSmith Center$10,000no account filed
May 1998Thunderstorm WindSmith Center$10,000no account filed
June 1998HailSmith Center$10,000no account filed
July 1998LightningSmith Center$10,000no account filed
May 1993Tornado (F0)Smith Center$5,000This tornado touched down over open county and remained over open country until it dissipated.
April 2008HailSmith Center$5,000no account filed
May 2007HailSmith Center$5,000no account filed
August 2007Flash FloodSmith Center$5,000no account filed
July 2001HailSmith Center$5,000no account filed
July 1996HailSmith Center$5,000no account filed
July 1994Thunderstorm WindSmith Center$5,000no account filed
July 1994Thunderstorm WindSmith Center$5,000no account filed
July 1994Thunderstorm WindSmith Center$5,000no account filed
May 1994HailSmith Center$5,000no account filed
August 1993HailSmith Center$5,000no account filed
June 2023Thunderstorm WindSmith Center$1,000Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH caused minor tree damage in Smith Center.
May 1993Tornado (F0)Smith Center$500This tornado remained over open country until it dissipated.
June 1994Thunderstorm WindSmith Center$500no account filed
April 1994HailSmith Center$500no account filed
May 1994HailSmith Center$500no account filed
May 1993HailSmith Center$500no account filed
May 1994HailSmith Center$50no account filed
June 2018Heavy RainSmith Center-Storm total rainfall amounts of 3 to 5 inches was common across the area. The highest totals included 4.30 inches at Smith Center, 4.20 inches six miles north-northeast of Bellaire, and 3.35 inches in Lebanon.
May 2017Heavy RainSmith Center-A 24 hour rainfall total of 3.63 inches was reported.

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
Bellaire5.9 miles12
Athol7.2 miles12
Gaylord9.9 miles12
Cora10.1 miles12
Reamsville11.3 miles12
Thornburg11.4 miles12
Cedar11.8 miles12
Harlan12.0 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 Smith CenterAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1023025The 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 471958. 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.