Ontonagon, Michigan
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1979. It stands in Ontonagon Township. It lies in ZIP code area 49953. It stands on Ontonagon River. The Survey maps it on the Ontonagon South quadrangle. 1,285 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 617 feet above sea level.
On record in Ontonagon
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
Ontonagon County Courthouselisted 1980
Ontonagon Harbor Piers Historic Districtlisted 2001
Ontonagon Lighthouselisted 1975
Ontonagon Schoollisted 2011
Population over time
2 figuresOntonagon fell from 1,494 to 1,285 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 | 1,494 | |
| 2020 | 1,285 | -209 (-14%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 9 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.
- 1955 USGS Ontonagon quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Iron River quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS Iron River quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Iron River quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Iron River quadrangle1:250000
- 1979 USGS Ontonagon quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
6 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 6 fires within 5 miles of Ontonagon in 1992, burning about 2 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 |
|---|---|
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 6 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 May 1992 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 7 May 1992 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 7 May 1992 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 7 May 1992 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 7 May 1992 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 7 May 1992 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
21 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ontonagon in 21 storm reports between 1995 and 2016: 10 hail, 9 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood, 1 tornado. 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 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ontonagon | $100,000 | The Ontonagon Emergency Manager reported dozens of trees down in and around the village of Ontonagon, including several down on homes. Power was out in the village for nearly eight hours. |
| August 2011 | Tornado (EF0) | Ontonagon | $20,000 | A strong EF0 tornado with winds estimated around 85 mph touched down at the River Pines RV Park and Campground and then skipped northeastward across the village lifting on the east side of the Ontonagon Golf Course. Most of the damage was confined to snapped and uprooted trees, snapped power poles, a small flipped boat, minor roof damage, and some structural damage to a garage. There were no injuries. |
| May 2010 | Flash Flood | Ontonagon | $15,000 | The Ontonagon Sheriff's office reported roads in and near Ontonagon washed out due to heavy rainfall of two to three inches which fell in less than an hour. Flooding on River Street in Ontonagon forced water over the sidewalks and into some area businesses. |
| June 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ontonagon | $2,000 | Several 8-12 inch diameter trees blown down across roads. |
| September 2011 | Hail | Ontonagon | - | Quarter and dime-sized hail were reported with the storm. Winds were estimated up to 65 mph as well. |
| September 2011 | Hail | Ontonagon | - | Several large branches were also reported down due to strong thunderstorm winds. |
| May 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ontonagon | - | The Ontonagon Sheriff's office reported branches and small trees down in Ontonagon due to thunderstorm winds. |
| May 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ontonagon | - | One inch hail and 60 mph winds were reported. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ontonagon | - | Tree down blocking southbound lane of Norwich Road. |
| April 2002 | Hail | Ontonagon | - | Penny sized hail reported. |
| August 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ontonagon | - | 8 inch diameter limbs broken off. |
| July 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ontonagon | - | Top of 40 foot spruce tree broken off. |
| July 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ontonagon | - | Winds blew a dock away. |
| July 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ontonagon | - | Trees blown down on cars. |
| May 2010 | Hail | Ontonagon | - | no account filed |
| October 2007 | Hail | Ontonagon | - | no account filed |
| October 2007 | Hail | Ontonagon | - | no account filed |
| September 2007 | Hail | Ontonagon | - | no account filed |
| July 2005 | Hail | Ontonagon | - | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Hail | Ontonagon | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Ontonagon | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firesteel | 5.1 miles | 12 | |
| Green | 7.1 miles | 10 | |
| Grand Rapids | 7.5 miles | 9 | |
| Rockland | 11.6 miles | 14 | |
| Old Victoria Historic Townsite | 12.2 miles | 14 | |
| Victoria | 12.7 miles | 14 | |
| Greenland | 12.9 miles | 13 | |
| Silver City | 13.9 miles | 15 |
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 Ontonagon | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2276442 | 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 1621113. 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.





