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Byron Center, Michigan

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1914 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Byron Township. It lies in ZIP code area 49315. The Survey maps it on the Cutlerville quadrangle. 7,431 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 745 feet above sea level.

Byron Center within Kent County

Population over time

3 figures

Byron Center grew from 3,777 to 7,431 between 2000 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
20003,777
20105,822+2,045 (+54%)
20207,431+1,609 (+28%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 15 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

34 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 34 fires within 5 miles of Byron Center between 1995 and 2020, burning about 36 acres in total. 2 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/undetermined13
Equipment and vehicle use13
Debris and open burning2
Smoking2
Natural2
Recreation and ceremony2

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
19 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesBYRON TOWNSHIP FD 878 - 2020
13 September 1995Debris and open burningunder an acreMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
12 September 2020Natural1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesBYRON TOWNSHIP FD 857 - 2020
5 August 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesWYOMING FD 194072 - 2019
22 August 2020Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesBYRON TOWNSHIP FD 784 - 2020
14 August 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesWYOMING FD 194222 - 2019
10 August 2018Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesWYOMING FD 0003957 - 2018
7 July 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesWYOMING FD 0003335 - 2018

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Kent County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Byron Center: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Byron SandSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducerSedimentary

Every working recorded in Kent County

Storms near this place

18 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Byron Center in 18 storm reports between 1994 and 2026: 9 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 1 flood. The reports record 1 death and 1 injury. 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
July 2011Thunderstorm WindByron Center1 killed, 1 hurt, $5,000,000Radar data indicates the northern end of a strong bow echo moved east into southwestern Kent county at 10:45 a.m. and raced east northeast producing significant wind damage and exited far east central Kent county near Lowell at around 11:10 a.m. Numerous trees and power lines were blown down and uprooted in and near towns including Cutlerville, Wyoming and Kentwood.||A 38 year old man was killed inside his garage along 68th street SE in Cutlerville when wind gusts of up to 80 mph ripped a large tree and its roots out of the ground and toppling it onto the garage, splitting it in half. In addition, a woman suffered minor injuries when a tree fell on her home in Cutlerville.
July 1994Thunderstorm WindByron Center$500,000Strong thunderstorm winds twisted and overturned the aluminum bleachers at the high school football field. The bleachers were not anchored to the ground.
July 1999HailByron Center$100,000Numerous reports of severe weather included the following: 7/8" diameter hail observed in Byron Center; Storm gutters that were blown off of a few homes in Kentwood; large limbs and a few trees were blown down across southern Kent county; several reports of 3/4" to 1.25" hail in Wyoming and Kentwood; and several windows that were blown out of cars in Wyoming.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindByron Center$50,000There were several reports of downed trees, limbs and power lines.
November 2013Thunderstorm WindByron Center$50,000A trained spotter reported a measured wind gust of 63 mph in Byron Center. A 59 mph gust was reported at East Grand Rapids high school and several other spotters reported gusts to around 60 mph and downed tree limbs and power lines.
July 2003HailByron Center$25,000Three quarters inch diameter hail was reported in Byron Center.
July 2004Thunderstorm WindByron Center$20,000Several trees were blown down across Kent county.
June 2000HailByron Center$20,000no account filed
July 2020Thunderstorm WindByron Center$10,000An isolated severe storm produced damaging wind gusts resulting in several downed trees and tree limbs across portions of southern Kent county.
November 2005HailByron Center$10,000One inch diameter hail was reported two miles west of Byron Center.
September 2002Thunderstorm WindByron Center$10,000Several trees and large limbs were blown down by thunderstorm wind gusts in Byron Center, as reported by area law enforcement. A large tree was also blown down in Caledonia.
August 2002Thunderstorm WindByron Center$10,000no account filed
March 2026Thunderstorm WindByron Center-A few shallow trees were uprooted and power outages affected the Byron Center area.
April 2013FloodByron Center-Heavy rain caused significant flooding on rivers and streams across Kent county. Kent County authorities estimated that flooding caused an estimated $10.6 million in damage, not including the City of Grand Rapids. Including the city of Grand Rapids flood damage estimated reach 20 million with significant flooding occurring to numerous homes and businesses. ||Kent County Emergency Management supervisors released the latest numbers Thursday, May 16, based on a damage assessment team evaluation. Flood waters in Kent County began to cause damage on April 18 when local creeks, including Buck Creek, began to overflow in parts of Wyoming, Grandville and elsewhere.||In downtown Grand Rapids, the problem reached its worst point when the Grand River crested at 21.85 feet on April 22.
April 2010HailByron Center-Trained spotters from Byron Center off to the east northeast through Grand Rapids to Dutton reported hail ranging anywhere from three quarters of an inch up to an inch and a half in diameter.
July 2008HailByron Center-A trained spotter in Byron Center reported one inch diameter hail.
May 1997HailByron Center-Hail covered the ground.
May 1997HailByron Center-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Kent 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
Carlisle2.3 miles15
North Byron2.3 miles15
Ross2.5 miles15
North Dorr3.7 miles9
Cutlerville3.7 miles15
Corinth3.7 miles15
Kentwood5.7 miles15
Wyoming7.0 miles17

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 Byron CenterAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2729181The 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 622409. 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.