Big Rapids, Michigan

• Open map evidence
• Research guide
• Mecosta County

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

• Fairman Buildinglisted 1987
• Nisbett Buildinglisted 1986

Big Rapids grew from 1,237 to 7,727 between 1870 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.

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.

• 1954 USGS Midland quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
• 1958 USGS Big Rapids quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
• 1958 USGS Midland quadrangle1:250000
• 1959 USGS Midland quadrangle1:250000
• 1966 USGS Midland quadrangle1:250000
• 1976 USGS Big Rapids NW quadrangle1:24000
• 1984 USGS Big Rapids quadrangle1:100000
• 1985 USGS Big Rapids quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
• 1991 USGS Big Rapids quadrangle1:100000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 45 fires within 5 miles of Big Rapids between 1994 and 2020, burning about 94 acres in total. 6 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.

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

• Stanwood
• Paris
• Grant Center

Every fire recorded in Mecosta County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Big Rapids: 5 producers, 1 past producer. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Fire Clay (Refractory). Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Every working recorded in Mecosta County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Big Rapids in 30 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 16 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 2 lightning, 2 tornado. The reports record 16 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.

Every storm recorded in Mecosta County

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

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.

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1619197. 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.