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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.

Kensington within Douglas County

Population over time

2 figures

Kensington 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.

YearPeople Change
2010292
2020266-26 (-9%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 9 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

12 since 1998

Regional 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 burning6
Arson/incendiarism4
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2

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
27 May 2003Missing data/not specified/undetermined11 acresFergus Falls Wetland Management DistrictENG LAKE
21 May 2003Arson/incendiarism14 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
20 May 2016Debris and open burning7.0 acresFergus Falls Wetland Management DistrictBENGSTON WF
4 April 2004Debris and open burning6.0 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
4 April 2003Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
4 April 2003Arson/incendiarism2.0 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
4 April 2003Arson/incendiarism3.0 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
19 April 1998Debris and open burning6.0 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Every fire recorded in Douglas County

Storms near this place

17 since 1996

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2011Thunderstorm WindKensington$150,000Numerous 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 2011Thunderstorm WindKensington$100,000Numerous trees and power lines were blown down across a large part of southwest and south central Douglas County.
July 2019HailKensington-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 2017Thunderstorm WindKensington-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 2014Tornado (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 2014Funnel CloudKensington-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 2007HailKensington-Reported on the Grant/Douglas county line on State Highway 27.
June 2005Funnel CloudKensington-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 2005Thunderstorm WindKensington-Numerous trees were downed.
July 2000Thunderstorm WindKensington-Trees felled.
June 2005HailKensington-no account filed
June 2002HailKensington-no account filed
July 2000HailKensington-no account filed
July 2000HailKensington-no account filed
June 1999HailKensington-no account filed
June 1999HailKensington-no account filed
May 1996HailKensington-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Douglas 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
Holmes City9.1 miles8
Brandon13.9 miles9
Garfield15.6 miles9
Evansville15.6 miles9
Forada18.1 miles10
Alexandria18.4 miles9
Melby19.8 miles9
Hiview Park20.6 miles11

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 KensingtonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2166128The 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.