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Lawton, Michigan

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1944 and the latest in 1982. It stands in Antwerp Township. It lies in ZIP code area 49065. The Survey maps it on the Lawton quadrangle. 1,850 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 791 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Lawton within Van Buren County

On record in Lawton

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

Population over time

2 figures

Lawton fell from 1,900 to 1,850 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.

YearPeople Change
20101,900
20201,850-50 (-3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 12 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

32 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 32 fires within 5 miles of Lawton between 2002 and 2020, burning about 40 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/undetermined23
Equipment and vehicle use6
Smoking1
Debris and open burning1
Natural1

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
9 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesPAW PAW VFD 0000165 - 2019
9 August 2019Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesPAW PAW VFD 0000142 - 2019
5 August 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesPAW PAW VFD 0000137 - 2019
3 August 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesLAWTON FD 0000074 - 2019
13 August 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesLAWTON FD 0000078 - 2019
20 July 2002Smokingunder an acreMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
8 May 2018Equipment and vehicle use5.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesLAWTON FD 0000045 - 2018
6 May 2018Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesMATTAWAN FD 43 - 2018

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Van Buren County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Lawton: 2 producers. 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
Budzen PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Klett Sand and Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Van Buren County

Storms near this place

17 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lawton in 17 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 12 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 flash flood, 1 funnel cloud. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
April 2010HailLawton$50,000,000Trained spotters across the far southeastern portion of Van Buren county reported hail up to one and a quarter inches in diameter and wind damage. Several trees were blown down and the large wind driven hail resulted in siding damage to homes across that area.
February 2024Thunderstorm WindLawton$250,000A trained spotter three miles south southwest of Lawton reported that several trees and power lines were blown down onto county road 669 just north of 79th street. Several trees and limbs were blown down onto homes and outbuildings in the area.
June 2024Thunderstorm WindLawton$200,000Numerous trees were blown down near Lawton.
December 2007Thunderstorm WindLawton$50,000Numerous trees were blown down in Lawton.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindLawton$20,000A severe thunderstorm produced wind gusts estimated at up to 65 mph and hail up to one inch in diameter. The wind caused a large tree limb to snap and fall on a house in Lawton.
August 2006Thunderstorm WindLawton$10,000Law enforcement in Lawton reported several trees were blown down.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindLawton$10,000no account filed
June 2008Thunderstorm WindLawton$5,000A NWS storm survey revealed that several trees were blown down across Van Buren county.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindLawton$5,000A NWS storm survey revealed that several trees were blown down in and near Lawton.
June 2006HailLawton$5,000Three quarters inch hail was reported in Lawton.
March 2025Thunderstorm WindLawton-At least three downed trees.
March 2025Thunderstorm WindLawton-Backyard weather station reported peak wind gust of 68mph at 514pm.
March 2025Thunderstorm WindLawton-Mesonet gust report.
July 2023Funnel CloudLawton-A trained spotter reported a funnel cloud near 92nd avenue in Lawton. No tornado was reported.
June 2008HailLawton-Penny sized hail was reported by a trained spotter.
July 1998Thunderstorm WindLawton-Trees downed in Lawton, with some minor structural damage to homes. No damage estimate was available.
February 1997Flash FloodLawton-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Van Buren 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
Paw Paw4.2 miles12
Mattawan4.4 miles12
Almena6.8 miles14
Teapot Dome7.0 miles12
Wildeys7.1 miles12
Decatur7.9 miles12
Glendale11.0 miles13
Fritzburg11.0 miles10

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 LawtonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q961999The 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 630224. 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.