Harbor Beach, Michigan
10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Sand Beach Township. It lies in ZIP code area 48441. It stands on Spring Creek. The Survey maps it on the Harbor Beach quadrangle. 1,604 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 600 feet above sea level.
On record in Harbor Beach
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 4 records
James and Jane Grice Houselisted 1982
Harbor Beach Lighthouselisted 1983
Frank Murphy Birthplacelisted 1971
Navigation Structures at Harbor Beach Harborlisted 1997
Population over time
2 figuresHarbor Beach fell from 1,703 to 1,604 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 | 1,703 | |
| 2020 | 1,604 | -99 (-6%) |
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
- 1970 USGS Harbor Beach quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1984 USGS Harbor Beach quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
3 since 2018Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of Harbor Beach in 2018, burning about 3 acres in total. 1 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/undetermined | 2 |
| Natural | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 September 2018 | Natural | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | HARBOR BEACH FD 71 - 2018 |
| 27 May 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | HARBOR BEACH FD 51 - 2018 |
| 14 May 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | HARBOR BEACH FD 49 - 2018 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Harbor Beach: 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tanton Pit and Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
22 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Harbor Beach in 22 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 12 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail, 2 tornado, 1 waterspout. The reports record 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2001 | Tornado (F0) | Harbor Beach | 1 hurt, $5,000 | A waterspout moved onshore from Harbor Beach harbor. Once the waterspout made landfall, it become classified as a tornado. The tornado moved over the pier and went up a short hill near Water Street, then it dissipated. An elderly couple at an art fair attempted to hold onto belongings and were thrown to the ground with their belongings strewn on top of them. The elderly woman disslocated a shoulder and broke an arm, requireing an overnight hospital stay. One tree was also knocked over and fell onto a van. |
| July 2006 | Lightning | Harbor Beach | $200,000 | A local newspaper article included a photograph of a home burned down. The fire was sparked by an electrical line blown down onto the home by thunderstorm winds. The couple was able to escape the home without injury. The value of the home itself was $150K, not including its contents. The couple lost all of their belongings in the fire. Total damages were roughly estimated at $200K. |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harbor Beach | $75,000 | Local newspaper articles reported that the storms left behind a trail of destruction through Harbor Beach, with numerous trees, some very large, ripped from their roots and power lines down through the entire area. The storms left the entire city without power. Many vehicles and structures, including homes, were damaged by fallen debris. Several boats were tossed about and washed ashore on Sand Point. An NWS survey confirmed that this area was struck by a microburst with winds up to 100 MPH. Remarkably, No injuries or deaths were reported. Total property damage in Harbor Beach was estimated at $75K. |
| June 2004 | Tornado (F1) | Harbor Beach | $25,000 | A tornado tracked near Rapson Road from Minden to Klug Roads. Widespread tree damage was reported, along with minor property damage. One property alone along Rapson Road lost 44 trees, many of which were more than 100 years old and very large. Outbuildings were moved off their foundations, with a portion of a metal roof on a barn torn off. |
| August 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harbor Beach | $6,000 | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harbor Beach | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harbor Beach | $1,000 | Trees and wires reported down, along with a power pole. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harbor Beach | - | Multiple trees and large branches reported down. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harbor Beach | - | Multiple trees and power lines reported down in Harbor Beach area. |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harbor Beach | - | An eight inch diameter tree limb was reported down. |
| September 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harbor Beach | - | Large tree limbs reported down. |
| October 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harbor Beach | - | A tree was reported blown down. |
| November 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harbor Beach | - | One 8 inch and one 6 inch diameter tree was snapped. Multiple power lines downed, along with flag pole snapped. |
| July 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harbor Beach | - | A 1 foot diameter tree was snapped in half. |
| August 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harbor Beach | - | A trained weather spotter reported large tree limbs down. |
| August 2001 | Waterspout | Harbor Beach | - | Developed in Harbor Beach harbor. |
| August 2015 | Hail | Harbor Beach | - | no account filed |
| August 2013 | Hail | Harbor Beach | - | no account filed |
| March 2012 | Hail | Harbor Beach | - | no account filed |
| August 2003 | Hail | Harbor Beach | - | no account filed |
| August 2000 | Hail | Harbor Beach | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Hail | Harbor Beach | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Helena | 5.3 miles | 10 | |
| Port Hope | 7.4 miles | 9 | |
| White Rock | 9.6 miles | 10 | |
| Ruth | 10.1 miles | 10 | |
| Redman | 11.3 miles | 9 | |
| Lewisville | 11.9 miles | 9 | |
| Parisville | 12.0 miles | 9 | |
| Rapson | 12.3 miles | 9 |
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 Harbor Beach | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2153356 | 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 627752. 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.



