Photograph of Hardy Dam — Photograph by Larry Pieniazek, Lar (commons) or User:Lar (wikipedia), CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Hardy Hydroelectric Plant

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.

From the record

“Hardy Dam is an earth-filled embankment dam and powerplant complex on the Muskegon River in Big Prairie Township, Newaygo County, Michigan. At the time of its completion, it was the largest earthen dam in North America east of the Mississippi.”
Wikipedia article Hardy Dam, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 3 National Register listings published here for Newaygo County · listed in 1997 · category: Structure.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Address. 6928 E. 36th St., Newaygo, 49337
When was it listed? December 1997
Category. structure
Township. Big Prairie township
National Register reference number. 97001479 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

150 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 150 fires within 5 miles of Hardy Hydroelectric Plant between 1994 and 2020, burning about 369 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 13 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 burning	75
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	18
Arson/incendiarism	13
Power generation/transmission/distribution	12
Equipment and vehicle use	7
Misuse of fire by a minor	7
Recreation and ceremony	6
Smoking	5
Natural	3
Other causes	3
Fireworks	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
8 September 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Michigan Department of Natural Resources	CROTON TOWNSHIP FD 143 - 2020
11 September 2020	Equipment and vehicle use	1.0 acres	Michigan Department of Natural Resources	CROTON TOWNSHIP FD 144 - 2020
4 August 2013	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	15 acres	Huron-Manistee National Forest	PRICKLY PEAR
4 August 2013	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Huron-Manistee National Forest	OXBOW LAKE
23 August 2004	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Huron-Manistee National Forest	EVERETT FIRE
11 August 2007	Debris and open burning	2.2 acres	Huron-Manistee National Forest	28TH STEET
7 July 2018	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Huron-Manistee National Forest	DAM
4 July 2020	Fireworks	under an acre	Huron-Manistee National Forest	PATRICK

Every fire recorded in Newaygo County

Mines and quarries near this property

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Hardy Hydroelectric Plant: 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
	K & V Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every working recorded in Newaygo County

Storms near this property

25 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Newaygo, the town this property stands in, in 25 storm reports between 1994 and 2023: 12 thunderstorm wind, 10 hail, 2 tornado, 1 flood. The reports record 2 deaths. 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 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Newaygo	2 killed	Large Tree Fell on a House. Several Other Large Trees nearby were blow over.
March 2019	Flood	Newaygo	$1,700,000	The combination of rain and snowmelt resulted in flooding and closure of more than a hundred roads. 30 roads were completely washed out.
July 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Newaygo	$100,000	Many trees were blown down in and around Newaygo county.
April 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Newaygo	$50,000	no account filed
May 2000	Hail	Newaygo	$30,000	no account filed
July 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Newaygo	$25,000	Numerous reports of blown down trees and power lines were received from Newaygo.
June 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Newaygo	$25,000	no account filed
May 2004	Hail	Newaygo	$20,000	One inch diameter was reported in Newaygo by an emergency manager.
May 2004	Hail	Newaygo	$20,000	Three quarters to seven eighths inch diameter hail was reported by law enforcement and the public from around ten miles east of Newaygo to Fremont.
May 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Newaygo	$10,000	Newaygo county emergency management reported several trees and a power line were down at Quarterline and Elm street.
October 2006	Hail	Newaygo	$10,000	One inch hail was reported in Newaygo.
October 2006	Hail	Newaygo	$10,000	The public reported one inch diameter hail in Newaygo.
June 2004	Hail	Newaygo	$10,000	One inch diameter hail was reported by the public three miles southeast of Newaygo.
August 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Newaygo	$10,000	Six inch diameter tree limbs were blown down at the intersection of M-82 and Evergreen, in Newaygo.
July 1999	Tornado (F0)	Newaygo	$10,000	A weak F0 tornado was on the ground in Newaygo county intermittently between 13:00 and 13:30 pm EST. Several tree limbs were downed.
September 2004	Hail	Newaygo	$5,000	Law enforcement five miles south of Newaygo reported seven eighths inch diameter hail.
July 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Newaygo	$5,000	Numerous trees and power lines were reported down throughout the county. Minor structural damage was also observed.
July 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Newaygo	$2,000	The public reported that several tree limbs were snapped off and one tree was blown down near Newaygo.
May 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Newaygo	$250	Trees Down Blocking Roads in Multiple Locations near Newaygo.
November 2023	Hail	Newaygo	-	A report of hail up to an inch and a quarter in diameter was received from the public.
May 2013	Hail	Newaygo	-	Nickel sized hail was reported near Newaygo.
July 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Newaygo	-	Several trees and power lines were blown down in Grant, Croton, and east of White Cloud.
September 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Newaygo	-	An NWS storm survey revealed that several trees were downed in the town of Newaygo and that scattered tree damage continued to Croton Dam.
July 2008	Hail	Newaygo	-	A county official reported one inch diameter hail in Newaygo.
June 2005	Tornado (F0)	Newaygo	-	A very weak and brief F0 tornado touchdown occurred approximately six miles southeast of Newaygo. It was on the ground for nearly five minutes but resulted in no structural damage, injuries or fatalities.

Every storm recorded in Newaygo County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

1 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph	Property	Distance	Listed
	Croton Hydroelectric Plant	3.8 miles	1979

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 97001479 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Newaygo County	All 3 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
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.