BlockBefore

Okabena, Minnesota

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Okabena City. It lies in ZIP code area 56161. The Survey maps it on the Okabena quadrangle. 203 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,421 feet above sea level.

Okabena within Jackson County

Population over time

2 figures

Okabena grew from 188 to 203 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
2010188
2020203+15 (+8%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 8 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.

In the county-history sources

913 words on this township

An Illustrated History of Jackson County, Minnesota, published 1910 names this settlement in its chapter on Okabena City. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Okabena makes no pretense of metropolitan greatness, but it is a prosperous little hamlet, boasting a dozen or more business enterprises. In the town are a bank, school, church, general store, hardware store, creamer}', lumber yard, hotel, livery barns, blacksmith shop, implement dealers, elevators, restaurant, billiard hall, etc. Okabena was founded as a station of the Southern Minnesota railroad in September, 1879, and when the tracklayers reached that point they laid a sidetrack. The same fall a warehouse was built, and the next February a postoffice was established with K. C. Jackson as postmaster. Mr. Jackson opened a small store in November, 1880, which he conducted until the summer of 1884. Okabena did not develop into a town until the nineties. The tpwnsite was surveyed in May, 1892,'' although the records show that the plat was not put on record until October 30, 1897. It was surveyed by J. L. Hoist and platted by Henry J. Schumacher. The plat consisted of six blocks located on the north side of the railroad. East and west streets were named Jackson, Exchange and Market; those north and south were named Front, Minnesota, Grove and Okabena. With the prosperous times of the late nineties and of the present decade came the building of the town, which is recognized as an excellent trading point by those residing in the vicinity.

Passage source: An Illustrated History of Jackson County, Minnesota, published 1910.

same distance northwest of Okabena, on section 35, LaCrosse township, the main line of the Omaha railroad and the Southern Minnesota division of the Milwaukee road cross. A union depot is maintained ; the other enterprises consist of a postoffice, a small store and eating house, combined, and a warehouse.

Passage source: An Illustrated History of Jackson County, Minnesota, published 1910.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Okabena City - it names this place 2 more 2 times.

Storms near this place

31 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Okabena in 31 storm reports between 2000 and 2026: 20 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 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
August 2004Thunderstorm WindOkabena$100,000Thunderstorm winds destroyed at least two barns, damaged several smaller farm structures including silos, caused widespread tree damage, and blew down power lines which resulted in power outages. The winds caused crop damage in the area, but the amount of crop damage could not be determined.
August 2001Thunderstorm WindOkabena$100,000Thunderstorm winds tore a heavy rubber membrane off a school gym and wellness center. The resulting leakage of water caused damage to several pieces of electronic equipment.
July 2000HailOkabena$100,000Large hail destroyed or damaged 15,000 acres of corn and soybean crops. The hail also broke windows, dented vehicles, and damaged siding.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindOkabena$50,000Nine power poles were snapped off, with four tossed across 340th Avenue into the opposite ditch. Property damage costs are rough estimates.
April 2026HailOkabena-Two thirds of the yard was covered by hail up to nickel size. Hail fall was approximately 10 minutes.
June 2024Thunderstorm WindOkabena-Video was taken of multiple trees damaged by a period of damaging thunderstorm wind gusts. Most downed limbs from from 6 to 8 inches in diameter, but several were in excess of a foot in diameter.
June 2024Thunderstorm WindOkabena-Thunderstorm winds damaged a cattle feeder and dented a large grain bin. Several trees were also damaged.
May 2022HailOkabena-Crop damage is an estimate from insured losses. Information provided by the United States Department of Agriculture.
May 2022HailOkabena-Crop damage is an estimate from insured losses. Information provided by the United States Department of Agriculture.
August 2018Flash FloodOkabena-Report of ponding water flowing into basement. Minor damage from standing water in basement.
August 2018Heavy RainOkabena-Rainfall reached an estimated 2.50 inches. Relayed through the Jackson County Sheriff.
May 2017Thunderstorm WindOkabena-Report received via Social Media.
September 2010Flash FloodOkabena-Heavy rain caused flooding of streets and a few basements, and there was a sewer backup into some homes.
July 2009Thunderstorm WindOkabena-Thunderstorm winds flattened corn. The amount of crop damage was not known. The winds were accompanied by nickel size hail.
July 2009HailOkabena-Hail was accompanied by estimated 60 mph wind gusts.
May 2004HailOkabena-Large hail covered the ground.
July 2001Tornado (F0)Okabena-A tornado damaged corn crops, but the amount of crop damage was not known.
April 2026HailOkabena-no account filed
April 2026HailOkabena-no account filed
April 2022HailOkabena-no account filed
July 2020HailOkabena-no account filed
June 2019HailOkabena-no account filed
June 2016HailOkabena-no account filed
October 2013HailOkabena-no account filed
May 2012HailOkabena-no account filed
July 2010HailOkabena-no account filed
June 2008HailOkabena-no account filed
May 2005HailOkabena-no account filed
May 2004HailOkabena-no account filed
May 2004HailOkabena-no account filed
June 2003HailOkabena-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Jackson 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
Miloma3.2 miles7
Heron Lake3.8 miles7
Rost6.6 miles8
Wilder8.7 miles7
Lakefield8.8 miles9
Spafford9.0 miles7
Sioux Valley13.5 miles7
Bergen17.4 miles6

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 OkabenaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2182386The 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 657662. 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.

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.