Sand Lake, Michigan
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Nelson Township. It lies in ZIP code area 49343. The Survey maps it on the Sand Lake quadrangle. 522 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 915 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresSand Lake grew from 500 to 522 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 | 500 | |
| 2020 | 522 | +22 (+4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 12 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 Midland quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Midland quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Sand Lake quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1959 USGS Midland quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Midland quadrangle1:250000
- 1985 USGS Cedar Springs quadrangle1:100000
- 1985 USGS Sand Lake quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Cedar Springs quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
18 since 2009Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 18 fires within 5 miles of Sand Lake between 2009 and 2020, burning about 36 acres in total. 3 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/undetermined | 10 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Natural | 3 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | SPENCER TOWNSHIP FD 0000317 - 2019 |
| 14 August 2019 | Natural | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | CEDAR SPRINGS FD 0039619 - 2019 |
| 22 July 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | SAND LAKE FD 0000260 - 2019 |
| 17 July 2020 | Natural | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | CEDAR SPRINGS FD 0032020 - 2020 |
| 13 July 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | SAND LAKE FD 0000239 - 2019 |
| 10 July 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | CEDAR SPRINGS FD 0372-18 - 2018 |
| 5 May 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | CEDAR SPRINGS FD 0022219 - 2019 |
| 18 May 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | SAND LAKE FD 0000172 - 2018 |
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 Sand Lake: 1 producer. 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pickett and Schreur Inc. Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
8 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sand Lake in 8 storm reports between 1998 and 2023: 5 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail. The reports record 3 deaths and 53 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sand Lake | 3 killed, $10,000,000 | Numerous trees, tree limbs and power lines were blown down. A woman and two girls were also killed near Cedar Springs when the vehicle they were traveling in lost control in a heavy downpour and hydroplaning accident. |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sand Lake | 53 hurt, $49,340,000 | Michigan State Police EMD's Damage and Injury Assessment Report indicated $4,336,751 in public damage costs, 53 injuries, 63 homes destroyed, 1196 homes damaged, 15 businesses destroyed, and 173 businesses damaged in Kent County, excluding the City of Grand Rapids (see separate Grand Rapids report). Private damage costs were estimated to be approximately $45.0 Million in the city of Walker alone. No other private damage costs were available from across the county. The storm damage was most severe in the cities of Rockford and Walker. Most city streets within the city limits of Rockford and Walker were left impassable. The city of Walker was closed to the public. Michigan State Police troopers assisted the city of Walker with security and a dawn to dusk curfew was enforced. A team from the Michigan National Guard was sent to the city of Walker to assist in debris removal and cleanup operations. Most of Walker was left without power as the power line infrastructure was destroyed. Damaged and destroyed businesses left 8,403 people unemployed. The Kent County fruitbelt, covering much of the northwest part of the county, received an estimated $20.0 Million in damages due to snapped and uprooted trees. Most damage was done to apple trees, but cherry and peach orchards were also damaged. Kent County declared a local state of emergency (as did the city of Walker) 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 Kent County, making available federal disaster assistance. |
| April 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sand Lake | $1,000,000 | A trailer and log cabin lost their roofs and a barn suffered heavy damage near Sand Lake where power lines and several trees were blown down. A car dealership suffered severe roof damage in Kent City. Numerous trees and power lines were blown down by straight line wind gusts of up to 75 to 85 mph across northern Kent county. |
| October 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sand Lake | $10,000 | Trees and power lines were blown down by wind gusts estimated at 60 mph. |
| May 2004 | Hail | Sand Lake | $10,000 | A trained spotter reported three quarters inch diameter hail in Sand Lake. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sand Lake | - | A 65 mph gust was measured by a trained spotter. |
| November 2023 | Hail | Sand Lake | - | The public reported that hail up to an inch in diameter occurred near Sand Lake. |
| September 2022 | Hail | Sand Lake | - | A trained spotter reported hail up to one and three quarters inches in diameter near Sand Lake. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cedar Springs | 5.1 miles | 15 | |
| Solon Center | 5.8 miles | 15 | |
| Sheffield | 6.9 miles | 11 | |
| Evans | 7.4 miles | 11 | |
| Harvard | 8.6 miles | 11 | |
| Edgerton | 9.4 miles | 15 | |
| Rockford | 12.1 miles | 16 | |
| Kent City | 13.3 miles | 13 |
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 Sand Lake | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2288096 | 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 1675442. 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.







