BlockBefore

Towanda, Kansas

14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Towanda Township. It lies in ZIP code area 67144. It stands on Spring Branch. The Survey maps it on the El Dorado SW quadrangle. 1,447 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,293 feet above sea level.

Towanda within Butler County

On record in Towanda

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 2 records

Population over time

2 figures

Towanda fell from 1,450 to 1,447 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
20101,450
20201,447-3 (-0%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 14 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

99 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 99 fires within 5 miles of Towanda between 2006 and 2020, burning about 12,957 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 1 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/undetermined45
Debris and open burning33
Equipment and vehicle use9
Power generation/transmission/distribution7
Fireworks2
Arson/incendiarism1
Recreation and ceremony1
Natural1

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
29 September 2015Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreKansas Forest Service228
28 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresKansas Forest Service226
25 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresButler County986
10 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreButler County192
7 August 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresKansas Forest Service183
28 August 2018Naturalunder an acreKansas Forest Service243
18 August 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresKansas Forest Service1946
9 July 2017Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresButler County156

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Butler County

Storms near this place

60 of 64 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Towanda in 64 storm reports between 1993 and 2026: 32 hail, 20 thunderstorm wind, 6 heavy rain, 3 tornado. 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 1999Flash FloodTowanda$500,000Major flash flooding occurred in Northwest Butler County along Four Mile Creek, a tributary of the Whitewater River. Several houses were reported in high water. In Towanda, the torrential rains caused widespread street flooding.
May 2000Thunderstorm WindTowanda$50,000Mobile home received considerable roof damage and a shed was blown over.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindTowanda$5,000Powerlines were downed in the Towanda area.
March 1993HailTowanda$5,000no account filed
April 2009Tornado (EF0)Towanda$3,000The tornado touched down briefly in an open field and then downed a few trees.
April 2006Thunderstorm WindTowanda$3,000Power pole was blown down.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindTowanda$2,000Tree damage and building damage near southwest 40th and Sante Fe Lake Road.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindTowanda$1,000Awnings were blown off, and two-inch diameter tree limbs were snapped.
April 2026HailTowanda-Report was relayed via emergency management. Street flooding in usual locations was also reported.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindTowanda-This was a measured report from a personal weather station.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindTowanda-Sporadic tree limbs were down across Towanda. All limbs appeared to be less than five inches in diameter.
April 2024Thunderstorm WindTowanda-Several tree limbs were down across town in excess of 10 inches in diameter.
July 2023Heavy RainTowanda-A mesonet station measured 4.82 inches of rainfall in 12 hours.
November 2022Heavy RainTowanda-A Cocorahs observer reported 2.20 inches of rainfall.
June 2022Heavy RainTowanda-The public mesonet station 1.5 miles west of Towanda reported 3.82 inches of rainfall in 24 hours.
May 2020Heavy RainTowanda-This was a 24 hour rainfall report of 3.27 inches.
May 2016Thunderstorm WindTowanda-A trained spotter reported the gust.
August 2016Thunderstorm WindTowanda-Winds were estimated from 60 to 65 mph.
May 2016HailTowanda-Public report via KSN Channel 3 weather.
August 2013FloodTowanda-A small amount of water was reported over some rural roads southwest of El Dorado.
April 2012Tornado (EF1)Towanda-The tornado mainly moved over open country, however, one horse farm was impacted with minimal damage to several of their barns.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindTowanda-Estimated gust reported by a trained spotter.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindTowanda-Estimated gust reported by a trained spotter.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindTowanda-A report of a railroad tie being picked up and damaging a fence. They also reported an aluminum flagpole being snapped in half and several tree limbs at least 3 inches in diameter on the ground.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindTowanda-Powerlines were blown down.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindTowanda-A 10-inch diameter tree limb was downed.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindTowanda-A large tree was reported to be blown down and laying across the road.
May 2010Tornado (EF0)Towanda-Tornado moved northeast over open pasture land.
July 2010HailTowanda-The hail was reported on Highway 254.
September 2003Flash FloodTowanda-Tawakoni Road flooded from 5 miles north of Highway 254 to Northwest 30th Street. Flood depth averaged 2 feet.
April 2026HailTowanda-no account filed
July 2024Thunderstorm WindTowanda-no account filed
May 2022HailTowanda-no account filed
June 2019Heavy RainTowanda-no account filed
June 2019Heavy RainTowanda-no account filed
May 2018HailTowanda-no account filed
August 2018HailTowanda-no account filed
August 2017HailTowanda-no account filed
August 2017HailTowanda-no account filed
May 2016HailTowanda-no account filed
April 2014HailTowanda-no account filed
August 2013HailTowanda-no account filed
August 2013HailTowanda-no account filed
June 2011HailTowanda-no account filed
April 2011HailTowanda-no account filed
July 2009HailTowanda-no account filed
June 2008HailTowanda-no account filed
June 2008HailTowanda-no account filed
June 2008HailTowanda-no account filed
June 2008HailTowanda-no account filed
May 2004HailTowanda-no account filed
July 2004HailTowanda-no account filed
June 2003HailTowanda-no account filed
June 2003Thunderstorm WindTowanda-no account filed
March 2002Thunderstorm WindTowanda-no account filed
May 2002HailTowanda-no account filed
September 2000HailTowanda-no account filed
April 1999HailTowanda-no account filed
April 1999HailTowanda-no account filed
May 1998Thunderstorm WindTowanda-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Butler 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
Midian2.6 miles14
Benton5.8 miles15
Vanora6.3 miles14
Oil Hill6.7 miles14
El Dorado7.4 miles14
Augusta7.7 miles15
Hopkins7.8 miles13
Lorena8.4 miles15

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 TowandaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1023029The 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 474579. 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.