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Babbitt, Minnesota

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1951 and the latest in 1994. It stands in Babbitt City. It lies in ZIP code area 55706. The Survey maps it on the Babbitt quadrangle. 1,397 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,483 feet above sea level.

Babbitt within St. Louis County

Population over time

2 figures

Babbitt fell from 1,475 to 1,397 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
20101,475
20201,397-78 (-5%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 11 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

85 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 85 fires within 5 miles of Babbitt between 1992 and 2020, burning about 75 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 19 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
Recreation and ceremony23
Arson/incendiarism19
Missing data/not specified/undetermined17
Debris and open burning15
Power generation/transmission/distribution4
Equipment and vehicle use3
Smoking2
Natural2

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
9 September 2011Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
6 September 2011Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
4 September 2012Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSuperior National ForestAIKIO
3 September 2001Recreation and ceremony1.5 acresSuperior National ForestBROKEN MIRROR FIRE
2 September 2011Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
18 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSuperior National ForestBIRCH
12 September 2012Arson/incendiarismunder an acreSuperior National ForestBIRCH LAKE 2
10 September 2012Arson/incendiarismunder an acreSuperior National ForestRIVARD ROAD

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in St. Louis County

Mines and quarries near this place

9 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Babbitt: 5 producers, 3 prospects, 1 unknown. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Water, Free, Nickel, Platinum, Palladium, Copper, Cobalt, Gold. 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
Dunka RoadNickel, Platinum, Palladium, Copper, Cobalt, Gold, Rhodium, RutheniumProspect1967
Serpentine DepositNickel, CopperUnknownPentlandite, Cubanite, Chalcopyrite, Pyrrhotite
Magnetic Taconite Mesabi Range 12wIron, Water, FreeProspectSurface
Magnetic Taconite Mesabi Range 13wIron, Water, FreeProspectSurface
Dunka Pit Fe depositIronProducerSurface, Underground
Northshore MineIronProducer1869, 1955
Peter Mitchell MineIronProducerAnkerite, Magnetite, Minnesotaite, Siderite
Reserve MineIronProducer1869, 1955
Reserve Pellet PlantIronProducer

Every working recorded in St. Louis County

Storms near this place

13 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Babbitt in 13 storm reports between 1999 and 2025: 9 thunderstorm wind, 4 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 2006HailBabbitt$50,000The large hail caused thousands of dollars in damage to vehicles. The hail put hundreds of large holes in the roof of the local building center and caused major damage at the local greenhouse.
June 2024Thunderstorm WindBabbitt-Three large trees were uprooted.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindBabbitt-Trees were reported down over the roadway.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindBabbitt-A 20 inch diameter tree was toppled and power lines were knocked down.
September 2017Thunderstorm WindBabbitt-A tree was knocked down blocking the roadway at Highway 21 and Shaver Road.
June 2016Thunderstorm WindBabbitt-There were multiple trees down near the intersection of Highway 21 and County Road 904.
June 2016Thunderstorm WindBabbitt-There were photographs of tree damage. The tree snapped halfway up the trunk.
July 2014Thunderstorm WindBabbitt-Trees and power lines were blown down.
July 2014Thunderstorm WindBabbitt-Trees were uprooted and a large shed was destroyed.
July 2008HailBabbitt-Quarter sized hail was reported along |Highway 21, mainly between Babbitt and Ely, with some minor accumulation.
September 2025HailBabbitt-no account filed
September 2025HailBabbitt-no account filed
July 1999Thunderstorm WindBabbitt-no account filed

Every storm recorded in St. Louis 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
Rothman4.1 miles13
Ridge7.7 miles14
McComber11.6 miles12
Robinson11.6 miles12
Eagles Nest12.1 miles12
Burntside12.8 miles13
Hinsdale13.1 miles14
Old Mesaba13.2 miles14

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 BabbittAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2232904The 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 660701. 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.