WaKeeney, Kansas
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1985. It stands in WaKeeney Township. It lies in ZIP code area 67672. The Survey maps it on the WaKeeney West quadrangle. 1,799 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,448 feet above sea level.
On record in WaKeeney
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
- Keraus Hardware Storelisted 2023
Population over time
3 figuresWaKeeney grew from 418 to 1,799 between 1880 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1880 | 418 | |
| 2010 | 1,862 | |
| 2020 | 1,799 | -63 (-3%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 13 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.
- 1893 USGS Hill quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1893 USGS Hill City quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Beloit quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1959 USGS Beloit quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1963 USGS Wa Keeney West quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Plainville quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
6 since 2015Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 6 fires within 5 miles of WaKeeney between 2015 and 2020, burning about 24 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 | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Debris and open burning | 1 |
| Smoking | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 August 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Kansas Forest Service | 11 |
| 4 June 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Kansas Forest Service | not named |
| 1 May 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 acres | Kansas Forest Service | not named |
| 19 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Kansas Forest Service | 2 |
| 3 March 2020 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | Kansas Forest Service | not named |
| 26 November 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Kansas Forest Service | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
60 of 158 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names WaKeeney in 158 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 105 hail, 42 thunderstorm wind, 7 tornado, 2 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | $3,000 | no account filed |
| August 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | $1,000 | A few power poles blown down. |
| September 2025 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | Trego county emergency manager reported quarter sized hail 3 W of Wakeeney. |
| June 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | - | Wind report of 60 mph. |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | - | Strong winds. |
| April 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | - | Mesonet site 1 SSW Wakeeney. |
| September 2022 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | The report was from mPing. |
| September 2022 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | The report was from mPing. |
| June 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | - | Winds were estimated to be 60 to 70 MPH. |
| March 2021 | Heavy Rain | Wakeeney | - | Rainfall of 4.50 inches was observed. |
| August 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | - | A roof was blown off a building. |
| May 2018 | Heavy Rain | Wakeeney | - | Rainfall of 4.10 was measured in two hours and at the time of the observation it was still raining. |
| May 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | - | Severe semi trucks were overturned by the high wind. |
| May 2018 | Flood | Wakeeney | - | Water and debris came across the road. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | - | Wind gusts were estimated to be 65 to 70 MPH. Large tree branches were blown down. |
| August 2017 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | Winds were at least 70 MPH while the hail fell. Nearly every window was broken in structures and vehicles. |
| August 2017 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | Winds were at least 70 MPH. |
| August 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | - | A semi tractor trailer was blown over on the interstate. |
| August 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | - | Siding was blown off a DQ but was also accompanied by very large hail shattering much of the siding. |
| August 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | - | Many homes had siding damage from hail and high wind. A nearby crop field was completely destroyed. |
| August 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | - | Windows were broken and trees were uprooted by the high wind. |
| July 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | - | Power lines were blown down by the high wind. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | - | Winds were estimated to be 60 to 70 MPH. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | - | Two inch diameter tree branches were broken by the high wind. |
| June 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | - | Winds were estimated to be 60 MPH. |
| August 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | - | Pea sized hail was also reported with the high winds. |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | - | Several power poles were blown down. Elephants with a circus were spooked by the thunderstorm and got loose and were running rampant in Wakeeney. |
| May 2008 | Tornado (EF1) | Wakeeney | - | A tornado developed southwest of the Wakeeney airport and subsequently moved across the south side of Wakeeney before curving north along 13th Avenue and dissipating about 0.25 miles north of the city limit and 0.25 miles west of U.S. 283 (13th Street). The first damage was destruction of a hangar at the airport. The hangar was open to the south, and the wind entered the structure, lifted it, and deposited it in pieces northeast of its original location. The tornado moved through the KOA Campground south of I70, rolling a fifth wheel trailer, destroying a small cabin that was held down only by gravity, blowing limbs up to six inches in diameter from trees, and removing shingles from the roof of the managers office. Portions of the flat roof covering on the high school were lifted and peeled off. Small storage buildings were destroyed and trees were uprooted along 13th Street. At the north end of Wakeeney, a large Quonset building that opened to the south was lifted and destroyed, and the roof was removed from a brick barn. Wind speeds were estimated to be 90-100 mph. |
| August 2007 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | Also estimated 60 mph wind at this location. |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | - | Two inch diameter tree limb was blown down. Pea size hail and 0.40 inches of rain also occurred. |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | - | Also had 1 inch diameter hail along with the wind. |
| May 2007 | Tornado (EF0) | Wakeeney | - | Contact with the ground was observed for about 2 minutes. Nothing was impacted to cause any damage. |
| July 2006 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | Also reported winds to 55 mph. |
| April 2005 | Tornado (F1) | Wakeeney | - | This tornado appeard to be very strong but only did F1 damage to a barn that did not take a direct hit. |
| April 2005 | Tornado (F0) | Wakeeney | - | This was a brief spinup. |
| April 2005 | Tornado (F0) | Wakeeney | - | This tornado did not high anything. |
| July 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | - | Trees and power lines were blown down |
| September 2001 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | The hail fell for 10 minutes. |
| June 2000 | Flash Flood | Wakeeney | - | Water over highway 283 along Big Creek. |
| October 2000 | Tornado (F0) | Wakeeney | - | Brief tornado moved straight north. |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | - | Field cultivator blown over. Corn stripped. |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | - | Four to six inch tree limbs blown down. |
| June 1997 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | Location is WaKeeney. |
| September 1995 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | Water was standing everywhere. |
| September 1995 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | Water was standing everywhere. |
| May 1995 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | Nearly $2 million damage to crops occurred across the county. |
| August 1993 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | One-inch hail was reported at the Cedar Bluff Reservoir. |
| July 2025 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | no account filed |
| May 2024 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | no account filed |
| May 2024 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | no account filed |
| June 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wakeeney | - | no account filed |
| May 2023 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | no account filed |
| May 2023 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | no account filed |
| June 2023 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | no account filed |
| May 2022 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | no account filed |
| May 2021 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | no account filed |
| May 2021 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | no account filed |
| May 2021 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | no account filed |
| May 2021 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | no account filed |
| May 2021 | Hail | Wakeeney | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voda | 7.6 miles | 8 | |
| Ogallah | 8.1 miles | 14 | |
| Trego Center | 9.6 miles | 13 | |
| Collyer | 12.7 miles | 8 | |
| Riga | 13.2 miles | 14 | |
| Fort Downer | 13.7 miles | 13 |
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 WaKeeney | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1641927 | 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 472517. 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.





