Dent, Minnesota
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1915 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Edna Township. It lies in ZIP code area 56528. The Survey maps it on the Dent quadrangle. 173 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,375 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresDent fell from 192 to 173 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 | 192 | |
| 2020 | 173 | -19 (-10%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 12 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.
- 1915 USGS Perham quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1953 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:250000
- 1973 USGS Dent quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Detroit Lakes quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
10 since 2002Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 10 fires within 5 miles of Dent between 2002 and 2020, burning about 142 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 |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 September 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 3.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 12 July 2002 | Smoking | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 17 May 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 34 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 4 April 2004 | Debris and open burning | 64 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 29 April 2013 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | APRIL OTTER TAIL FIRE |
| 26 April 2020 | Other causes | 1.5 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 20 April 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 11 April 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
28 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Dent in 28 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 16 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 3 tornado, 1 funnel cloud. 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 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dent | $200,000 | Numerous trees and large tree branches were blown down mainly on northeast edges of numerous small lakes across Star Lake and Dead Lake townships. Numerous sections of county and township roads were blocked by downed trees and branches. |
| August 2020 | Flash Flood | Dent | $5,000 | Heavy rain resulted in at least eight inches of water over county road 115 at 320th street, in northern Maine Township. |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dent | $5,000 | The wind knocked down one tree. |
| June 2025 | Tornado (EFU) | Dent | - | Tornado was initially reported by law enforcement. Multiple pictures of the tornado exist showing it crossing Marion Lake SW of Perham MN but no damage has been reported. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dent | - | A couple of healthy 7 inch diameter tree branches were broken near the community of Maine. |
| July 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dent | - | Tree damage was reported between Star and Big McDonald lakes. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dent | - | Numerous 8 to 10 inch diameter poplar trees were snapped in northern Star Lake and western Edna townships. |
| July 2017 | Hail | Dent | - | The large hail was accompanied by very heavy rain and strong wind. |
| July 2016 | Hail | Dent | - | Hail covered the ground. |
| June 2014 | Hail | Dent | - | The hail was accompanied by very heavy rain. The hail was reported to be an inch or more deep across yards. |
| September 2014 | Hail | Dent | - | The hail fell at Big McDonald Lake. |
| August 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dent | - | Boat lifts, docks, and boats were flipped by the strong winds. |
| July 2010 | Tornado (EF0) | Dent | - | A tornado briefly touched down near Dent. |
| June 2009 | Tornado (EF1) | Dent | - | A tornado touched down briefly near Dent, knocking down several large trees and riping the roof off the dugout at the baseball field. The tornado tracked for about a mile and peak winds were estimated at 90 mph. Downburst winds produced additional wind damage around the Big McDonald and Star Lake areas. |
| June 2008 | Funnel Cloud | Dent | - | A persistent funnel was viewed between Star Lake and Big McDonald Lake. |
| July 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dent | - | Power lines were blown down at the intersection of county roads 108 and 85. |
| July 2016 | Hail | Dent | - | no account filed |
| September 2014 | Hail | Dent | - | no account filed |
| July 2014 | Hail | Dent | - | no account filed |
| July 2008 | Hail | Dent | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Dent | - | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Hail | Dent | - | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | Dent | - | no account filed |
| August 2000 | Hail | Dent | - | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Hail | Dent | - | no account filed |
| July 1998 | Hail | Dent | - | no account filed |
| July 1998 | Hail | Dent | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Dent | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Richville | 5.8 miles | 12 | |
| Basswood | 6.9 miles | 13 | |
| Pine Cone Court | 7.5 miles | 12 | |
| Luce | 7.9 miles | 12 | |
| Perham | 8.1 miles | 12 | |
| Vergas | 8.5 miles | 16 | |
| Amor | 9.9 miles | 13 | |
| Grand View Heights | 11.0 miles | 12 |
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 Dent | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2166187 | 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 642771. 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.






