Colon, Michigan
10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Colon Township. It lies in ZIP code area 49040. It stands on Swan Creek. The Survey maps it on the Colon quadrangle. 1,199 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 863 feet above sea level.
On record in Colon
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
Farrand Halllisted 1972
Population over time
2 figuresColon grew from 1,173 to 1,199 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,173 | |
| 2020 | 1,199 | +26 (+2%) |
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.
- 1953 USGS Fort Wayne quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1956 USGS Fort Wayne quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Colon quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS Elkhart quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
7 since 2018Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 7 fires within 5 miles of Colon between 2018 and 2020, burning about 9 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 |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 4 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | COLON FIRE/RESCUE 259 - 2019 |
| 23 May 2019 | Recreation and ceremony | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | COLON FIRE/RESCUE 136 - 2019 |
| 11 May 2018 | Natural | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | COLON FIRE/RESCUE 0000126 - 2018 |
| 29 April 2018 | Natural | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | COLON FIRE/RESCUE 0000114 - 2018 |
| 15 April 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | COLON FIRE/RESCUE 098 - 2019 |
| 27 March 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | BRONSON FD 0000096 - 2019 |
| 13 March 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | COLON FIRE/RESCUE 052 - 2020 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
20 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Colon in 20 storm reports between 1998 and 2023: 13 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 2 tornado, 1 lightning. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Colon | 1 killed, $10,000 | A 71 year old male was killed when a large tree fell on his vehicle and crushed it as he was driving north of Colon. The driver was killed instantly. |
| August 2011 | Lightning | Colon | 1 hurt | A fire official reported that a 17 year old female was struck by lightning at a campground while taking a shower. No specific details were given as to the extent of injuries, which are assumed minor. |
| November 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Colon | $150,000 | SEVERAL HOMES WERE HEAVILY DAMAGED BY FALLEN TREES. |
| October 2001 | Tornado (F1) | Colon | $100,000 | Tornado skipped along a 5 mile path. F1 damage included a well constructed barn destroyed with debris thrown about one half mile. |
| July 2023 | Tornado (EF1) | Colon | $25,000 | A tornado quickly developed almost directly over a storage facility on the east side of Colon in St. Joseph county. Garage doors were blown in and then a significant loss of roof decking and metal covering occurred. This wood and metal debris was lofted, twisted, and deposited both to the east and north up to 200 yards away in nearby fields. The tornado crossed into Branch county with sporadic tree damage noted on Ambs Road, South Culver Road, and Jackson Road, where large branches were down, trees uprooted, or trees were snapped several feet off the ground. The tornado topped a number of trees within a tree grove east of Jackson Road, but south of Wattles |Road before dissipating. The tornado was on the ground for 0.9 miles in St Joseph county and 2.0 miles in Branch county for a total of 2.9 miles in length. |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Colon | $15,000 | Two foot diameter healthy tree snapped in half, and thrown into a house causing roof and gutter damage. |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Colon | $5,000 | Spotter estimated 70 mph wind gusts. Trees are down and crops have been blown over. |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Colon | $3,500 | Several trees uprooted or snapped measuring 1 to 3 feet in diameter. One tree fell onto a house. Part of a metal roof was damaged. Numerous limbs downed measuring 1 to 2 ft diameter in the town. |
| May 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Colon | - | Trained spotters reported several healthy large trees uprooted or snapped, ranging from one to two feet in diameter. |
| August 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Colon | - | The public reported two large trees were tipped over by strong winds. |
| February 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Colon | - | Local fire departments reported two healthy one to two foot diameter trees were damaged at Manor Rd and Palmer Street. One tree was snapped about half way up, with the other broke at the base. A tree branch landed on a vehicle. Power lines were also down in the area from tree limbs. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Colon | - | Trees and power lines downed. |
| June 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Colon | - | A trained spotter estimated wind gusts to 60 mph. Two to four inch diameter tree branches were down on local roads. |
| July 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Colon | - | Local fire officials reported multiple trees and power lines down along Custer and Decker Roads. |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Colon | - | Trained spotter reported a wind gust to 60 MPH near Colon. |
| June 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Colon | - | Trees and power lines downed. Minor damage to a grain bin. |
| June 2008 | Hail | Colon | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | Colon | - | no account filed |
| July 2005 | Hail | Colon | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Colon | - | 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 Colon | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2641272 | 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 1624462. 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.



