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Walker, Michigan

14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1945 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Walker City. It lies in ZIP code area 49534. The Survey maps it on the Marne quadrangle. 25,132 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 745 feet above sea level.

Walker within Kent County

Population over time

2 figures

Walker grew from 23,537 to 25,132 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.

YearPeople Change
201023,537
202025,132+1,595 (+7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 14 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

54 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 54 fires within 5 miles of Walker between 2005 and 2020, burning about 78 acres in total. 4 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
Equipment and vehicle use29
Missing data/not specified/undetermined14
Natural4
Debris and open burning3
Recreation and ceremony2
Smoking1
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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
5 September 2005Debris and open burning1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
4 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesALPINE TOWNSHIP FD 729 - 2020
2 September 2005Misuse of fire by a minor9.9 acresMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
16 September 2018Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesGRAND RAPIDS FD 0016112 - 2018
18 August 2018Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesWRIGHT-TALLMADGE FD 0000524 - 2018
17 August 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesALPINE TOWNSHIP FD 773 - 2019
16 August 2019Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesGRAND RAPIDS FD 0015030 - 2019
16 August 2018Natural1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesWALKER CITY FD 0000380 - 2018

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Kent County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 12 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 12 workings within 5 miles of Walker: 7 producers, 4 past producers, 1 unknown. 7 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gypsum-Anhydrite. 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
Grand Rapids Gypsum Mine #1Gypsum-AnhydritePast Producer
Grand Rapids Gypsum Mine #2Gypsum-AnhydritePast Producer
Grand Rapids Gypsum Mine #3Gypsum-AnhydritePast Producer
Grand Rapids MineGypsum-AnhydriteProducer
Butterworth Sand PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Cheyne Pit & MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Devries PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Gillisse Pit and MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Grand Rapids Gravel Co. Plant No.20Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Grand Rapids Plant No. 5Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Kent County

Storms near this place

4 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Walker in 4 storm reports between 1997 and 2024: 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. 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
July 1997Thunderstorm WindWalker$10,000The Walker Police Department reported large tree limbs and power lines downed in Walker, in the northwest quadrant of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area.
May 1998Thunderstorm WindWalker$2,500Several large branches downed (30" diameter) near intersection of 3-Mile and Remembrance Roads.
April 2024HailWalker-The public reported one inch diameter hail two miles west southwest of Cannonsburg.
May 1998Thunderstorm WindWalker-Walker City Police estimated an 80-mph wind gust at city municipal offices.

Every storm recorded in Kent 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
Kinney1.0 miles14
Standale2.0 miles11
Wilder Center2.8 miles16
Comstock Park5.8 miles16
Grand Rapids5.9 miles17
Grandville6.3 miles11
Alpine6.6 miles16
Wyoming6.9 miles17

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 WalkerAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q537120The 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 1615688. 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.