Kensington, Minnesota
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Solem Township. It lies in ZIP code area 56343. The Survey maps it on the Kensington quadrangle. 266 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,309 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresKensington fell from 292 to 266 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 | 292 | |
| 2020 | 266 | -26 (-9%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 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.
- 1953 USGS Saint Cloud quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Saint Cloud quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Saint Cloud quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Kensington quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1986 USGS Lake Minnewaska quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
12 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 12 fires within 5 miles of Kensington between 1998 and 2020, burning about 182 acres in total. None started naturally. 4 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 | 6 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 4 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 May 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11 acres | Fergus Falls Wetland Management District | ENG LAKE |
| 21 May 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 14 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 20 May 2016 | Debris and open burning | 7.0 acres | Fergus Falls Wetland Management District | BENGSTON WF |
| 4 April 2004 | Debris and open burning | 6.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 4 April 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 4 April 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 2.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 4 April 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 3.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 19 April 1998 | Debris and open burning | 6.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Storms near this place
17 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Kensington in 17 storm reports between 1996 and 2019: 9 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 2 funnel cloud, 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kensington | $150,000 | Numerous trees and power lines were blown down across the southern part of Douglas County from Kensington to Garfield, and Holmes City. In addition, straight line winds damaging two roofs of two commercial buildings in the southern part of the county. |
| August 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kensington | $100,000 | Numerous trees and power lines were blown down across a large part of southwest and south central Douglas County. |
| July 2019 | Hail | Kensington | - | Numerous reports of large hail occurred from north of Farwell, to north of Forada, and south of Osakis. The largest hail stone was golf ball size north of Forada. This is the continuation of the long hail swath that developed across Stevens County, and moved into far northwest Pope County, before entering Douglas County near Farwell. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kensington | - | Three buildings at a farm, including a machine shop, were completely destroyed by thunderstorm winds. Radar indicates a mini bow echo went through the area. Several other buildings, including a turkey barn, were also damaged. Three barns, two shops, a machine shed and a garage were all damaged. |
| June 2014 | Tornado (EF0) | Kensington | - | Several trained spotters, including those with the Kensington Fire Department, watched a very narrow tornado move north-northeast, occasionally touching down about every 1/4 mile. It only moved across sloughs and fields. It dissipated when rain swept across the area near the intersection of State Highway 27 and County Road 1. |
| June 2014 | Funnel Cloud | Kensington | - | A funnel cloud developed just south of Farwell in northwestern Pope County and moved northeast into Douglas County. The funnel cloud never did touch down in Pope or Douglas Counties. It was described as very narrow. |
| June 2007 | Hail | Kensington | - | Reported on the Grant/Douglas county line on State Highway 27. |
| June 2005 | Funnel Cloud | Kensington | - | A county employee reported a funnel cloud near the intersection of county roads 25 and 56. The public reported a funnel cloud near the intersection of county roads 114 and 27. |
| July 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kensington | - | Numerous trees were downed. |
| July 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kensington | - | Trees felled. |
| June 2005 | Hail | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Hail | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Hail | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Hail | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Hail | Kensington | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Hail | Kensington | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Holmes City | 9.1 miles | 8 | |
| Brandon | 13.9 miles | 9 | |
| Garfield | 15.6 miles | 9 | |
| Evansville | 15.6 miles | 9 | |
| Forada | 18.1 miles | 10 | |
| Alexandria | 18.4 miles | 9 | |
| Melby | 19.8 miles | 9 | |
| Hiview Park | 20.6 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 Kensington | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2166128 | 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 646106. 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.




