BlockAustin, Minnesota
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Austin City. It lies in ZIP code area 55912. It stands on Dobbins Creek. The Survey maps it on the Austin East quadrangle. 26,174 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,181 feet above sea level.
Research this city
On record in Austin
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 3 records
Cook-Hormel Houselisted 1982
Paramount Theaterlisted 1986
Arthur W. Wright Houselisted 1986
Population over time
2 figuresAustin grew from 24,718 to 26,174 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 | 24,718 | |
| 2020 | 26,174 | +1,456 (+6%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 9 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 Austin quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:250000
- 1982 USGS Austin East quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Austin quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
2 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Austin between 2006 and 2018, burning about 5 acres in total. None 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 1 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 May 2018 | Fireworks | under an acre | Windom Wetland Management District | LOST LAKE |
| 14 March 2006 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Austin: 3 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ulland Quarry & Mill | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Hyland Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Lea Sand & Gravel Plit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
60 of 71 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Austin in 71 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 30 hail, 21 thunderstorm wind, 12 flood, 3 heavy rain. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Austin | $3,200,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Austin | $1,900,000 | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Tornado (F1) | Austin | $150,000 | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Austin | $60,000 | no account filed |
| December 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Austin | $50,000 | The automated weather observing equipment at the Austin airport measured a wind gust of 60 mph. The winds blew down trees and power lines throughout Austin causing the entire city to lose power. |
| April 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Austin | $50,000 | Thunderstorm winds and nickel-size hail caused $8,000 damage in the city of Austin. |
| June 1998 | Hail | Austin | $45,000 | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Hail | Austin | $35,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Austin | $35,000 | no account filed |
| April 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Austin | $25,000 | Trees were blown down and a camper destroyed on the northwest side of Austin. |
| May 2000 | Hail | Austin | $25,000 | no account filed |
| July 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Austin | $25,000 | no account filed |
| June 2013 | Lightning | Austin | $20,000 | A lightning strike from an early morning thunderstorm destroyed the garage at a home on the east side of Austin. |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Austin | $20,000 | no account filed |
| March 1998 | Hail | Austin | $12,000 | no account filed |
| June 2009 | Hail | Austin | $10,000 | no account filed |
| May 1995 | Hail | Austin | $8,000 | Hail and high winds damaged the Mower County highway department vehicles. A restaurant under contruction was blown over. A roof air conditioner was damaged. |
| May 2000 | Hail | Austin | $7,500 | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Austin | $5,000 | A semi truck was blown over on U.S. Highway 218 just south of Austin. |
| July 1994 | Hail | Austin | $5,000 | Golf ball-size hail pelted the Austin area and damaging some vehicles. |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Austin | $2,500 | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | Austin | $2,500 | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Hail | Austin | $2,000 | no account filed |
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Austin | $1,500 | no account filed |
| August 2007 | Flash Flood | Austin | $1,000 | KAAL Television in Austin reported street flooding on 4th street near Interstate 90 and along Oakland Avenue. |
| May 2006 | Hail | Austin | $1,000 | no account filed |
| August 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Austin | $1,000 | no account filed |
| August 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Austin | $1,000 | no account filed |
| July 1994 | Hail | Austin | $500 | Golf ball-size hail pelted the Austin area and damaging some vehicles. |
| July 1994 | Hail | Austin | $500 | no account filed |
| May 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Austin | $250 | no account filed |
| August 2025 | Flood | Austin | - | Heavy rain during the middle of August allowed Dobbins Creek at Austin to rise into flood stage during the afternoon on August 18th. The site crested at 11.94 ft in minor flood stage during the afternoon on August 18th before falling below flood stage during the early evening that same day. |
| April 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Austin | - | A semi tractor trailer truck was reported to be blown over by strong thunderstorm winds near the intersection of Minnesota State Highway 56 and 205th Street in Austin. The driver sustained non-life threatening injuries. |
| June 2024 | Flood | Austin | - | Significant rainfall later into June pushed Dobbins Creek in eastern Austin into flood stage on June 22nd. The river stage crested during the late morning hours the same day in moderate flood stage at 17.56 ft. |
| July 2022 | Flood | Austin | - | Runoff from heavy rains caused street flooding to occur in Austin. |
| March 2019 | Flood | Austin | - | Runoff from rain and melting snow pushed Dobbins Creek out of its banks near Austin. The creek crested over a foot above the flood stage at 12.75 feet on March 14th. |
| September 2019 | Heavy Rain | Austin | - | The mesonet equipment at Dobbins Creek measured 4.18 inches of rain. |
| September 2019 | Flood | Austin | - | Runoff from heavy rains pushed Dobbins Creek out of its banks near Austin. The creek crested over a foot above the flood stage at 12.82 feet. |
| September 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Austin | - | The automated weather observing equipment at the Austin airport measured a wind gust of 60 mph. |
| September 2018 | Flash Flood | Austin | - | Runoff from heavy rain caused water to go over Interstate 90 in Austin. The Interstate was briefly closed until the water receded. |
| April 2017 | Hail | Austin | - | Quarter sized hail fell in Austin. |
| September 2016 | Flood | Austin | - | Runoff from heavy rain pushed Dobbins Creek out of its banks in Austin. The creek crested just over a foot above the flood stage at 12.63 feet. |
| June 2015 | Flood | Austin | - | Locally heavy rains caused Dobbins Creek in Austin to go out of its banks. The creek crested less than a half foot above the flood stage at 11.9 feet. |
| May 2015 | Hail | Austin | - | Quarter sized hail was reported just northeast of Austin. |
| July 2015 | Flood | Austin | - | Locally heavy rains caused street flooding to occur in the Austin area, including Interstate 90 near 11th Street. Rainfall reports indicated between 2 and 2.5 inches of rain fell in a short time. |
| May 2013 | Flood | Austin | - | Runoff from heavy rains pushed Dobbins Creek out of its banks in Austin. The creek crested a foot and a half above the flood stage at 13.01 feet. |
| October 2013 | Heavy Rain | Austin | - | In Austin, 2.36 inches of rain was measured. |
| March 2010 | Flood | Austin | - | Dobbins Creek on the east side of Austin rose over the flood stage of 11.5 feet the evening of March 11th. It crested at 10:25 p.m. on March 11th at 11.6 feet, before falling back below flood stage during the early morning hours of March 12th.||Minor flooding occurred during the time when the creek was above flood stage, however no damage was reported. |
| July 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Austin | - | The automated weather observing equipment at the Austin Municipal airport measured a wind gust of 59 miles per hour. |
| September 2010 | Heavy Rain | Austin | - | Total rainfall through the storm was 5.12 inches. |
| September 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Austin | - | The automated weather observing equipment at the Austin airport measured a sixty-one mile per hour wind gust. |
| September 2010 | Flood | Austin | - | Locally heavy rains pushed Dobbins Creek near Austin out of its banks on September 23rd and 24th. The creek exceeded the flood stage by just over a foot, cresting at 12.57 feet. |
| July 2010 | Flood | Austin | - | Water covered part of the east bound lanes of Interstate 90 near mile marker 179.5. Also, some street flooding occurred in different sections of the city of Austin. |
| August 2007 | Hail | Austin | - | Quarter sized hail was estimated. |
| August 2007 | Hail | Austin | - | Golf ball size hail was reported by Emergency Manager. |
| April 1994 | Hail | Austin | - | Thunderstorm winds and nickel-size hail caused $8,000 damage in the city of Austin. |
| March 2017 | Hail | Austin | - | no account filed |
| July 2016 | Hail | Austin | - | no account filed |
| April 2015 | Hail | Austin | - | no account filed |
| May 2006 | Hail | Austin | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mapleview | 1.6 miles | 9 | |
| Austin Acres | 1.7 miles | 9 | |
| Ramsey | 3.0 miles | 9 | |
| Andyville | 4.0 miles | 9 | |
| Varco | 4.3 miles | 9 | |
| Nicolville | 5.1 miles | 9 | |
| Lansing | 5.4 miles | 9 | |
| Brownsdale | 7.5 miles | 9 |
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 Austin | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q780944 | 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 639531. 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.