Elk Rapids, Michigan
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Elk Rapids Township. It lies in ZIP code area 49629. It stands on Elk River. The Survey maps it on the Elk Rapids quadrangle. 1,529 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 597 feet above sea level.
On record in Elk Rapids
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 3 records
Elk Rapids First Methodist Episcopal Churchlisted 2015
Elk Rapids Township Halllisted 1977
Hughes Houselisted 1976
Population over time
2 figuresElk Rapids fell from 1,642 to 1,529 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 | 1,642 | |
| 2020 | 1,529 | -113 (-7%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 12 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 Traverse City quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1957 USGS Elk Rapids quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Traverse City quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1983 USGS Elk Rapids quadrangle1:25000
- 1983 USGS Traverse City quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1989 USGS Traverse City quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
17 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 17 fires within 5 miles of Elk Rapids between 1992 and 2020, burning about 26 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 |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 9 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 August 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | MILTON TOWNSHIP FD 0000108 - 2019 |
| 18 July 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | ELK RAPIDS TOWNSHIP FD 0015642 - 2019 |
| 1 July 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | ELK RAPIDS TOWNSHIP FD 0012443 - 2018 |
| 23 June 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | PENINSULA TOWNSHIP FD 0000258 - 2019 |
| 15 June 1992 | Smoking | 2.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 9 May 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | PENINSULA TOWNSHIP FD 0000152 - 2018 |
| 7 May 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | MILTON TOWNSHIP FD 0000030 - 2020 |
| 4 May 2003 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 4.1 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
8 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Elk Rapids in 8 storm reports between 1995 and 2015: 4 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 1 tornado, 1 flash flood. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elk Rapids | $4,000 | Large trees downed along US-31. |
| April 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elk Rapids | $2,000 | A large tree was blown down on South Elk Lake Rd near Clearwater Point Road, blocking the roadway. |
| July 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elk Rapids | - | Scattered trees and power lines down. |
| August 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elk Rapids | - | 6 inch diameter limbs down. |
| July 1999 | Flash Flood | Elk Rapids | - | 4 to 6 inches of water covered secondary roads. |
| August 1995 | Tornado (F0) | Elk Rapids | - | North of Elk Rapids, a cold air waterspout came ashore with enough force to break some six inch limbs out of some trees, and create the classic "Freight Train" sound heard by at least four people in nearby houses. Some minor roof damage was also noted on one house. The tree damage was between two houses and the track was less than .1 mile long. The waterspout dissipated quickly after coming on shore. No convective activity was observed, by any radar, in northern lower Michigan during that night. |
| August 2015 | Hail | Elk Rapids | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Elk Rapids | - | 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.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kewadin | 3.2 miles | 12 | |
| Alden | 7.5 miles | 12 | |
| Clam River | 8.0 miles | 12 | |
| Creswell | 9.2 miles | 12 | |
| North Arms | 11.1 miles | 15 | |
| Bellaire | 12.4 miles | 15 | |
| Torch Lake | 12.8 miles | 12 | |
| Snowflake (historical) | 12.9 miles | 12 |
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 Elk Rapids | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3319758 | 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 625459. 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.





