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Paw Paw, Michigan

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1944 and the latest in 1982. It stands in Paw Paw Township. It lies in ZIP code area 49079. It stands on East Branch Paw Paw River. The Survey maps it on the Paw Paw quadrangle. 3,362 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 732 feet above sea level.

Paw Paw within Van Buren County

On record in Paw Paw

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 2 records

Population over time

4 figures

Paw Paw grew from 1,428 to 3,362 between 1870 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
18701,428
20003,363
20103,534+171 (+5%)
20203,362-172 (-5%)

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

29 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 29 fires within 5 miles of Paw Paw between 2002 and 2020, burning about 30 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/undetermined20
Equipment and vehicle use6
Smoking1
Natural1
Debris and open burning1

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
2 August 2018Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesPAW PAW VFD 0000153 - 2018
19 August 2018Debris and open burning2.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesVANBUREN 02 - 38TH ST
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
9 May 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesPAW PAW VFD 0000099 - 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 Paw Paw: 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

16 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Paw Paw in 16 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 10 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2004Thunderstorm WindPaw Paw$50,000The general public reported that numerous trees were blown down in Paw Paw.
July 2003HailPaw Paw$50,000Two inch diameter hail was reported by area law enforcement in Paw Paw. Another report of three quarters inch hail was received from Paw Paw.
May 2000HailPaw Paw$50,000no account filed
December 2007Thunderstorm WindPaw Paw$40,000A square yard of shingles was blown off a roof of an eight year old home. Downed trees and limbs were blocking county road 653.
June 2003HailPaw Paw$25,000Seven eighths inch diameter hail was reported with a severe thunderstorm in Paw Paw, and a tree was blown down in Mattawan.
August 2003Thunderstorm WindPaw Paw$20,000Several trees were blown down in Paw Paw.
May 2004HailPaw Paw$15,000A trained spotter reported three quarters inch diameter hail with a severe thunderstorm five miles west of Paw Paw.
June 1999Thunderstorm WindPaw Paw$15,000Tree limbs and power lines were downed in Paw Paw.
August 2003Thunderstorm WindPaw Paw$10,000Severe thunderstorm wind gusts blew down four trees in Paw Paw and two trees three miles south of Lawton.
June 1998Thunderstorm WindPaw Paw$2,500Scattered reports of trees and power lines down in Paw Paw Township.
August 1997Thunderstorm WindPaw Paw$2,500Scattered reports of power lines downed in and around Paw Paw.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindPaw Paw-Large trees down throughout Paw Paw.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindPaw Paw-A few trees were blown down across portions of Van Buren county, primarily in the vicinity of Paw Paw.
September 2008Tornado (EF1)Paw Paw-A tornado touched down just west of Paw Paw. Uprooted trees and broken limbs were found along with a twisted metal fence near a school. The tornado then moved into the southern section of the town of Paw Paw. Damage to a car dealership occurred when a section of metal roof was ripped off. A restaurant also sustained damage when trees were blown down.
August 1995Thunderstorm WindPaw Paw-Trees blown down in city by thunderstorm winds.
April 1994HailPaw Paw-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
Teapot Dome4.0 miles12
Wildeys4.2 miles12
Lawton4.2 miles12
Almena4.8 miles14
Mattawan5.7 miles12
Glendale6.8 miles13
Lawrence8.5 miles10
Decatur8.8 miles12

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 Paw PawAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2154296The 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 634488. 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.