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Wellston, Michigan

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1933 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Norman Township. It lies in ZIP code area 49689. It stands on Bear Wallow Creek. The Survey maps it on the Wellston quadrangle. 254 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 774 feet above sea level.

Wellston within Manistee County

On record in Wellston

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

Population over time

2 figures

Wellston fell from 311 to 254 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
2010311
2020254-57 (-18%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 15 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

145 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 145 fires within 5 miles of Wellston between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,052 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 15 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
Debris and open burning51
Recreation and ceremony25
Power generation/transmission/distribution22
Missing data/not specified/undetermined19
Arson/incendiarism15
Misuse of fire by a minor7
Equipment and vehicle use3
Natural1
Smoking1
Fireworks1

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
8 September 2013Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreHuron-Manistee National ForestMIKELLE 2
13 September 2012Debris and open burningunder an acreHuron-Manistee National ForestRIFLE RANGE
8 August 2020Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreHuron-Manistee National Forest815
8 August 2008Arson/incendiarismunder an acreHuron-Manistee National ForestLOG JAM
7 August 2013Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreHuron-Manistee National ForestSTRAWBERRY POINT
5 August 2003Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreHuron-Manistee National ForestSTRAWBERRY POINT
31 August 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreHuron-Manistee National ForestOLD TARGET
22 August 2012Debris and open burningunder an acreHuron-Manistee National ForestSPRUCE ST.

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Manistee 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 Wellston: 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
Gillispie PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Leavitt Pit and MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Manistee County

Storms near this place

20 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Wellston in 20 storm reports between 1997 and 2026: 11 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 1 flash flood. 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
August 2013Thunderstorm WindWellston$12,000Scattered downed trees occurred in Wellston, including one tree downed onto a vehicle.
May 2011Flash FloodWellston$10,000Training thunderstorms brought excessive rainfall to the Wellston area. A cooperative observer, 1 mile north of Wellston, measured 5.05 inches of rain from 9 am to 9 pm. A considerable amount of standing water developed on area roads, and some were closed for part of the afternoon.
July 2013Thunderstorm WindWellston$5,000Several trees and power lines were downed in Wellston.
October 2007Thunderstorm WindWellston$4,000Six trees were blown down west of Wellston, near M-55.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindWellston$3,000Two trees and several large limbs were downed.
June 2007Thunderstorm WindWellston$2,500Large tree blown over. An anemometer measured a 62 mph gust before the cups were blown off the measuring device.
July 2005Thunderstorm WindWellston$2,000Three large trees were blown down.
March 2026HailWellston-Trained spotter reported accumulating hail up to 0.80 inches in diameter.
May 1998Thunderstorm WindWellston-Strong thunderstorm winds downed numerous trees and overturned a 200 lb water pump.
September 2021HailWellston-no account filed
May 2012HailWellston-no account filed
May 2011HailWellston-no account filed
June 2008HailWellston-no account filed
April 2003HailWellston-no account filed
July 1999Thunderstorm WindWellston-no account filed
February 1999Thunderstorm WindWellston-no account filed
October 1999HailWellston-no account filed
June 1999Thunderstorm WindWellston-no account filed
September 1998HailWellston-no account filed
June 1997Thunderstorm WindWellston-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Manistee 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
Dublin2.9 miles15
Brethren6.9 miles9
Udell7.2 miles8
Kaleva11.1 miles9
Marilla11.4 miles13
Chief Lake11.9 miles9
Maue Corners13.8 miles9
Norwalk13.8 miles9

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 WellstonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q27430150The 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 1622084. 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.