Bena, Minnesota
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1996. It stands in Bena City. It lies in ZIP code area 56626. The Survey maps it on the Bena quadrangle. 143 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,316 feet above sea level.
On record in Bena
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
Winnibigoshish Resortlisted 1980
Population over time
2 figuresBena grew from 116 to 143 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 | 116 | |
| 2020 | 143 | +27 (+23%) |
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 Bemidji quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1957 USGS Bemidji quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Bemidji quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS Bena quadrangle1:24000
- 1977 USGS Cass Lake quadrangle1:100000
- 1996 USGS Bena quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
98 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 98 fires within 5 miles of Bena between 1992 and 2019, burning about 67 acres in total. None started naturally. 37 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 |
|---|---|
| Arson/incendiarism | 37 |
| Debris and open burning | 17 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 11 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 9 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Fireworks | 3 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Other causes | 2 |
| Smoking | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 September 2005 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Chippewa National Forest | NEEDLE |
| 2 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Chippewa National Forest | BUCKET |
| 17 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Chippewa National Forest | SECTION 34 |
| 13 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Chippewa National Forest | BENA |
| 11 September 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Chippewa National Forest | HUNGRY GULCH |
| 7 August 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Chippewa National Forest | BENA |
| 6 August 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Chippewa National Forest | OLD HOUSING |
| 12 August 2007 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Chippewa National Forest | RADIO |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
28 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bena in 28 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 13 thunderstorm wind, 13 hail, 2 tornado. 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 2010 | Hail | Bena | $15,000 | Most of the hail that fell was golf ball size. A few larger stones up to baseball size were observed. The hail was reported at the new Leech Lake Campground. There was hail damage to vehicles, awnings, and buildings in Bena. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bena | $15,000 | Substantial wind damage was reported. The wind blew hard enough to blow water through seals around windows of the campground lodge. A 100 pound access cover on the roof was thrown the entire length of the roof. Siding and shingles were damaged and thrown about. Covers were taken off the boat lift. Trees were downed, and a few were uprooted and sheared off. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bena | $1,000 | Tree limbs were blown down due to the strong winds. |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bena | - | One large tree was down along with many branches snapped off. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bena | - | Several large trees were snapped and large branches down. |
| June 2018 | Hail | Bena | - | Pea to golf ball-sized hail fell for over 7 minutes along with heavy rain. |
| June 2018 | Hail | Bena | - | Cherry tomato-sized hail was observed at a resort on the south shore of Lake Winnibigoshish. |
| May 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bena | - | Strong thunderstorm winds blew down trees with diameters up to 8 inches. |
| August 2017 | Tornado (EF0) | Bena | - | Multiple reports of photos and video received showing waterspouts on Lake Winnibigoshish. Eye witnesses reported three different waterspouts on the lake with two occurring at the same time. |
| August 2017 | Tornado (EF0) | Bena | - | Multiple reports of photos and video received showing waterspouts on Lake Winnibigoshish. Eye witnesses reported three different waterspouts on the lake with two occurring at the same time. |
| September 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bena | - | Multiple trees were knocked down. |
| August 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bena | - | A wind speed was recorded by a personal weather station. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bena | - | Many trees were blown down on Highway 2 between mile marker 145 and 157. |
| July 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bena | - | Widespread severe wind damage was reported along the eastern shore of Lake Winnibigoshish. |
| June 2010 | Hail | Bena | - | The hail was reported at the Nodak Lodge and Resort. |
| June 2024 | Hail | Bena | - | no account filed |
| July 2021 | Hail | Bena | - | no account filed |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bena | - | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Hail | Bena | - | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Hail | Bena | - | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bena | - | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Hail | Bena | - | no account filed |
| August 2001 | Hail | Bena | - | no account filed |
| August 2000 | Hail | Bena | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Hail | Bena | - | no account filed |
| June 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bena | - | no account filed |
| June 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bena | - | no account filed |
| September 1996 | Hail | Bena | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan Village | 4.5 miles | 9 | |
| Federal Dam | 6.6 miles | 9 | |
| Schley | 11.2 miles | 9 | |
| Bald Eagle Center | 12.0 miles | 9 | |
| Boy River | 12.7 miles | 9 | |
| Elevenmile Corner | 16.6 miles | 10 | |
| Cuba (historical) | 16.7 miles | 9 | |
| Tobique | 17.9 miles | 11 |
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 Bena | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2346661 | 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 655329. 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.
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.





