Pentwater, Michigan
10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1932 and the latest in 1983. It stands in Pentwater Township. It lies in ZIP code area 49449. It stands on Pentwater River. The Survey maps it on the Pentwater quadrangle. 890 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 610 feet above sea level.
On record in Pentwater
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
Navigation Structures at Pentwater Harborlisted 2001
Population over time
2 figuresPentwater grew from 857 to 890 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 | 857 | |
| 2020 | 890 | +33 (+4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 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.
- 1932 USGS Ludington SW quadrangle1:31680
- 1954 USGS Milwaukee quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Milwaukee quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Ludington quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1983 USGS Ludington quadrangle1:100000
- 1983 USGS Pentwater quadrangle1:25000
Fires near this place
19 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 19 fires within 5 miles of Pentwater between 1992 and 2020, burning about 77 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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 | 6 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6 |
| Debris and open burning | 4 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 July 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 2.5 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 2 July 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 13 July 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | OCEANA 10 |
| 9 June 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 2.4 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | OCEANA 07 |
| 23 June 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | PENTWATER FD 0000031 - 2019 |
| 23 June 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | HART FD 64 - 2018 |
| 16 June 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | HART FD 74 - 2020 |
| 13 June 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
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 Pentwater: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Fire Clay (Refractory). 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pentwater E.Lowlands Clay Pit | Fire Clay (Refractory) | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
11 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Pentwater in 11 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 7 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 flood. The reports record 37 injuries. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pentwater | 37 hurt, $4,020,000 | Michigan State Police EMD Damage and Injury Assessment Report indicated $4,018,760 in public damage costs, 37 injuries, 26 homes destroyed, 1415 homes damaged, 6 businesses destroyed, and 109 businesses damaged. Private damage cost estimates were not available. Oceana County declared a local state of emergency and was granted a Governor's disaster declaration to activate state assistance for the county. On June 24th, President Clinton granted a Major Disaster Declaration for Oceana County, making available federal disaster assistance. |
| April 2013 | Flood | Pentwater | $3,000,000 | Heavy rain caused significant flooding on rivers and streams across Newaygo county. |
| June 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pentwater | $200,000 | Numerous reports of downed trees and power lines were received. A peak wind gust of 68 mph was also measured. |
| May 2004 | Hail | Pentwater | $20,000 | A severe thunderstorm produced three quarters to seven eighths inch diameter hail across portions of Oceana county. |
| July 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pentwater | $15,000 | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pentwater | $10,000 | Several trees and power lines downed in Pentwater. |
| April 2002 | Hail | Pentwater | $10,000 | no account filed |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pentwater | - | A peak wind gust of 66 mph was measured at the Mason Oceana 911 call center. |
| April 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pentwater | - | A severe thunderstorm produced a wind gust to 59 mph near Pentwater. |
| May 2012 | Hail | Pentwater | - | Seven eighths inch diameter hail was reported one mile east of Pentwater. |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pentwater | - | Trained weather spotter measured a 60-mph wind gust as derecho moved onshore in Pentwater. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| French Town | 0.8 miles | 10 | |
| Weare | 5.5 miles | 12 | |
| Hart | 6.8 miles | 12 | |
| Mears | 6.9 miles | 11 | |
| Crystal Valley | 10.4 miles | 11 | |
| Little Point Sable | 11.6 miles | 6 | |
| Shelby | 12.5 miles | 11 | |
| Elbridge | 13.1 miles | 11 |
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 Pentwater | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3319751 | 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 1621203. 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.





