Middle River, Minnesota
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1918 and the latest in 1992. It stands in Spruce Valley Township. It lies in ZIP code area 56737. The Survey maps it on the Middle River quadrangle. 304 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,142 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresMiddle River grew from 303 to 304 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 | 303 | |
| 2020 | 304 | +1 (+0%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 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.
- 1918 USGS Middle River quadrangle1:62500
- 1952 USGS Thief River Falls quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Thief River Falls quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Thief River Falls quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Middle River quadrangle1:24000
- 1967 USGS Thief River Falls quadrangle1:250000
- 1985 USGS Thief River Falls quadrangle1:100000
- 1992 USGS Thief River Falls quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
34 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 34 fires within 5 miles of Middle River between 1996 and 2020, burning about 2,738 acres in total. None started naturally. 17 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 | 17 |
| Debris and open burning | 11 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 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 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 25 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 24 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16 acres | Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge | COMO SOUTH |
| 19 September 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 18 September 2012 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 16 August 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 24 July 2017 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 23 July 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 2 June 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Middle River: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ornquist Pit and Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
24 since 1999Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Middle River in 24 storm reports between 1999 and 2022: 14 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Middle River | $500,000 | Straight-line winds hit Middle River, causing roof and tree damage. Several grain bins and barns were destroyed and the front of a building blew off and landed on a pickup truck. A window was also blown out of a trailer. |
| June 2014 | Flash Flood | Middle River | $20,000 | Flooding occurred along the Middle River in the town of Middle River, causing a few streets to be closed and several spots to be sandbagged. Farm fields and farm access roads were also flooded near the Middle River in eastern Spruce Valley and western Cedar townships. |
| June 2020 | Tornado (EF1) | Middle River | $6,000 | This tornado was viewed and recorded by at least two chase teams as it tracked intermittently for about 9 miles. The tornado snapped numerous trees in groves along its path, spreading debris up to 300 yards wide across one roadway. Peak winds were estimated at 100 mph. |
| August 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Middle River | $1,000 | Tree damage was reported north of Middle River. |
| June 2022 | Hail | Middle River | - | Wind-driven hail punched holes in siding and broke out several windows on the west/northwest walls of a house. Hail stones up to golf-ball sized were found in melting piles early the next morning. |
| June 2022 | Hail | Middle River | - | Quarter to ping-pong ball sized hail was reported as accumulating on the ground. |
| July 2015 | Hail | Middle River | - | Winds also gusted up to 50 mph. |
| September 2014 | Hail | Middle River | - | Some quarter sized hail was mixed in with a lot of smaller sized hail. |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Middle River | - | Several 10 to 12 inch diameter poplar trees were blown down. |
| September 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Middle River | - | Large tree branches were blown down. |
| August 2007 | Hail | Middle River | - | About 1.75 inches of rain fell in 15 minutes. |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Middle River | - | Three to five inch diameter tree branches were blown down. |
| July 2005 | Tornado (F0) | Middle River | - | Intermittent touchdowns occurred along the damage path. Anticyclonic (clockwise) rotation was evident in the tree damage that occurred in shelterbelts. |
| July 2020 | Funnel Cloud | Middle River | - | no account filed |
| June 2020 | Funnel Cloud | Middle River | - | no account filed |
| June 2019 | Hail | Middle River | - | no account filed |
| August 2015 | Hail | Middle River | - | no account filed |
| September 2014 | Hail | Middle River | - | no account filed |
| August 2007 | Hail | Middle River | - | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Hail | Middle River | - | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Hail | Middle River | - | no account filed |
| August 2001 | Hail | Middle River | - | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Hail | Middle River | - | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Hail | Middle River | - | 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.
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 Middle River | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2114999 | 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 647816. 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.







