Brown City, Michigan
10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Brown City City. It lies in ZIP code area 48416. The Survey maps it on the Brown City quadrangle. 1,302 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 817 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 10 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.
- 1954 USGS Flint quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Flint quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Brown City quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1984 USGS Croswell quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
9 since 2002Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 9 fires within 5 miles of Brown City between 2002 and 2020, burning about 17 acres in total. None 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 |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 September 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | BROWN CITY AREA FD 0000106 - 2019 |
| 4 May 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | SPEAKER TOWNSHIP FD 0000017 - 2018 |
| 1 May 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | BROWN CITY AREA FD 0000032 - 2018 |
| 4 April 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP FD 1519021 - 2019 |
| 8 March 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | BROWN CITY AREA FD 0000018 - 2020 |
| 29 March 2006 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 23 March 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | BROWN CITY AREA FD 0000030 - 2019 |
| 8 October 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 9.5 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Brown City: 2 producers, 1 past producer. 2 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.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Large's Clay Pit | Fire Clay (Refractory) | Past Producer | ||
| Lapeer County Road Comm. Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| St Clair County Road Comm. Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
14 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Brown City in 14 storm reports between 2000 and 2020: 7 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood, 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2006 | Flash Flood | Brown City | $1,250,000 | Thunderstorms with very heavy rain repeatedly occurred across the same areas and dumped rain at a rate of nearly 2 inches per hour. Doppler radar estimated that 5 inches of rain fell in a west to east swath across southeast Sanilac County, and as much as 10 inches in an isolated area in and around the Brown City area. A cooperative observer in Brown City actually measured 7.35 inches over a 4 hour period on the evening of August 2nd, with an additional eight tenths of an inch falling after midnight during the early morning hours of the 3rd. The most intense rain fell from about 2000 EST on the 2nd to about 0100 EST on the 3rd. Flash flooding began around 2300 EST. Many homes in the Brown City area were heavily damaged by flood waters. The entire town experienced flooding and the city manager reported 220 damage claims filed with the city. At least 3 basements were lost and and a few homes reported nearly $100K in damages. The entire lower half of the high school was flooded with 3 to 5 inches of water. Flood waters reached 3 feet deep in a mobile home park in the city. Around 0200 EST on the 3rd, the flood waters stopped rising, and by noon, the flood waters began to recede. Total property damages were estimated at $1.25M. No injuries were reported. |
| May 2011 | Lightning | Brown City | $50,000 | no account filed |
| June 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brown City | $5,000 | A couple of trees were snapped, with a church roof partially peeled off. |
| May 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brown City | $5,000 | Power lines and power poles reported down. |
| July 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brown City | $2,000 | Tree limbs and power outages reported. |
| April 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brown City | - | Law enforcement reported trees down. |
| June 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brown City | - | A trained spotter reported tree branches blown down. |
| April 2020 | Hail | Brown City | - | no account filed |
| August 2007 | Hail | Brown City | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Brown City | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | Brown City | - | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Hail | Brown City | - | no account filed |
| August 2000 | Hail | Brown City | - | no account filed |
| August 2000 | Hail | Brown City | - | 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.
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 Brown City | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3308138 | 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 622071. 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.



