Prudenville, Michigan
10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Denton Township. It lies in ZIP code area 48651. It stands on Knappen Creek. The Survey maps it on the Prudenville quadrangle. 1,643 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,145 feet above sea level.
Population over time
3 figuresPrudenville fell from 1,737 to 1,643 between 2000 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 1,737 | |
| 2010 | 1,682 | -55 (-3%) |
| 2020 | 1,643 | -39 (-2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 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 Traverse City quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Traverse City quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1963 USGS Prudenville quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1983 USGS Houghton Lake quadrangle1:100000
- 1989 USGS Traverse City quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
70 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 70 fires within 5 miles of Prudenville between 1992 and 2020, burning about 149 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 12 were 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 | 23 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 12 |
| Debris and open burning | 9 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 7 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 6 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 6 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 4 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Smoking | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 September 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | ROSCOMMON 04 - WACO RD EQUIPMENT FIRE |
| 9 August 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 5 July 1992 | Recreation and ceremony | 2.5 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 4 July 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Huron-Manistee National Forest | PAVILLION |
| 4 July 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | ROSCOMMON 28 |
| 4 July 2002 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 13 July 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.5 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | ROSCOMMON 12 |
| 24 June 2009 | Natural | 2.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | ROSCOMMON 11 |
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 Prudenville: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jess Stanley Gravel Co. Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
13 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Prudenville in 13 storm reports between 1997 and 2020: 8 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 lightning, 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Prudenville | $6,000 | Trees were downed just east of Prudenville, across Roscommon Road and Misty Pine Trail. |
| July 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Prudenville | $5,000 | Several trees were downed. |
| July 2005 | Lightning | Prudenville | $5,000 | Lightning struck a radio tower, damaging equipment in a nearby building. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Prudenville | $4,000 | Two pontoon boats on the Houghton Lake shoreline were ripped off their hoists and flipped upside-down into the lake. |
| September 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Prudenville | $2,500 | A tree and multiple power lines were downed near Lake James. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Prudenville | $2,000 | A tree and a power line were downed by strong thunderstorm winds. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Prudenville | $2,000 | Trees downed at M-18 and Doyle Trail. |
| April 2011 | Hail | Prudenville | - | Penny-sized hail fell at the intersection of M-55 and M-18. |
| June 2011 | Funnel Cloud | Prudenville | - | A shower managed to produce a funnel cloud over the east end of Houghton Lake. |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Prudenville | - | Strong thunderstorm winds downed several trees along M-18. |
| June 2008 | Hail | Prudenville | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Hail | Prudenville | - | no account filed |
| June 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Prudenville | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Houghton Lake | 6.1 miles | 13 | |
| Houghton Lake Heights | 6.8 miles | 13 | |
| Houghton Point | 7.6 miles | 13 | |
| Loxley | 7.9 miles | 13 | |
| Maple Valley | 8.5 miles | 10 | |
| Sharps Corners | 8.6 miles | 11 | |
| Nellsville | 8.9 miles | 13 | |
| Artesia Beach | 9.4 miles | 10 |
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 Prudenville | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q952498 | 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 635500. 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.




