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Wathena, Kansas

21 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1924 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Washington Township. It lies in ZIP code area 66090. It stands on Peters Creek. The Survey maps it on the Wathena quadrangle. 1,246 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 827 feet above sea level.

Wathena within Doniphan County

On record in Wathena

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

Wathena fell from 1,364 to 1,246 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
20101,364
20201,246-118 (-9%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 21 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

5 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Wathena between 2015 and 2018, burning about 816 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 burning2
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
14 September 2017Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresDoniphan County017-108
15 March 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined400 acresKansas Forest Service28
14 March 2018Debris and open burning15 acresKansas Forest Service2018031
14 March 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined400 acresKansas Forest Service27
14 January 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreKansas Forest Service5

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Doniphan County

Mines and quarries near this place

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Wathena: 3 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Heuemander QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Wathena QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
St Joseph DredgeSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Doniphan County

Storms near this place

20 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Wathena in 20 storm reports between 1996 and 2024: 9 hail, 8 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 1 lightning. 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 2000LightningWathena$200,000Lightning struck a historic building, most recently used as a dance studio, in downtown Wathena. The fire that followed rendered the building a total loss, but did not spread to any other buildings.
June 1998Thunderstorm WindWathena$35,000Thunderstorm winds blew down a tree which fell on and totaled a trailer in Wathena.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindWathena$10,000Multiple trailers were damaged by thunderstorm wind gusts, estimated up to 70 mph, near the Lake Contrary area.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindWathena$8,000Roof was blown off a Conoco gas station along Highway 36.
June 2000Thunderstorm WindWathena$5,000Winds estimated at 60 mph tore some of the shingles off of a roof.
March 2024HailWathena-Photo of tennis ball sized hail in Wathena.
May 2018Thunderstorm WindWathena-A storm chaser reported 65 mph winds.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindWathena-Thunderstorm wind gusts were estimated up to 70 mph.
April 2009Tornado (EF0)Wathena-A brief EF0 tornado touchdown, was observed by a trained spotter, around one mile east of Elwood, at 1910 CST. No damage was observed.
June 2005Tornado (F0)Wathena-Tornado touched down near the Pony Express Bridge and then crossed the Missouri River into St. Joseph Missouri. No significant damage was noted except to some tree limbs.
June 1998HailWathena-The Doniphan County Sheriff's Office reported quarter-size hail during a severe thunderstorm at Wathena.
May 2018HailWathena-no account filed
June 2009HailWathena-no account filed
May 2009HailWathena-no account filed
August 2005Thunderstorm WindWathena-no account filed
August 2005HailWathena-no account filed
May 2004Thunderstorm WindWathena-no account filed
May 2004HailWathena-no account filed
May 2000HailWathena-no account filed
June 1996HailWathena-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Doniphan 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
Palermo2.3 miles18
Blair3.3 miles23
Elwood4.1 miles22
Troy7.6 miles23
Brenner9.1 miles27
Doniphan10.7 miles27
Moray11.8 miles23
Bendena12.2 miles27

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 WathenaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1864288The 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 473057. 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.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

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.