Ostrander, Minnesota
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Ostrander City. It lies in ZIP code area 55961. The Survey maps it on the Ostrander quadrangle. 231 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,345 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresOstrander fell from 254 to 231 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 | 254 | |
| 2020 | 231 | -23 (-9%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 7 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.
- 1954 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Ostrander quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Austin quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
6 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 6 fires within 5 miles of Ostrander between 1994 and 2020, burning about 39 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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 | 2 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 May 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 2 April 2004 | Debris and open burning | 19 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 10 April 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 10 April 1994 | Debris and open burning | 18 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 18 December 2004 | Smoking | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 28 October 1999 | 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
9 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Ostrander: 8 past producers, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hallie Bly Mine | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Kadders Mine | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| O Kunnert Mine Reserve No 2 | Iron | Prospect | ||
| Q Baker Mine | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Raymond Olson | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Sample Mine North | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Sample Mine South | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Tammel Mine | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Tveito Mine | Iron | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
31 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ostrander in 31 storm reports between 1995 and 2026: 14 hail, 12 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 1 flood. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2022 | Tornado (EF1) | Ostrander | $650,000 | An EF1 tornado formed southwest of Spring Valley and moved almost due north before dissipating west of Spring Valley. The tornado blew down a barn and damaged several other farm buildings along its path. Several new power poles along County Highway 1 were leaning after the storm. |
| September 2010 | Flood | Ostrander | $45,000 | Heavy rain fell across the area which caused flooding of rivers, streams and creeks, as well as in low-lying areas. The flood waters caused closures of roads, while some of these roads incurred some minor damage. The majority of the rain fell from 3 p.m. on the 22nd through 9 a.m. on the 23rd as 4.60 inches was measured at Spring Valley in that time frame. |
| June 2019 | Flash Flood | Ostrander | $35,000 | Runoff from heavy rain produced some flash flooding across the western portions of Fillmore County. Water covered roads west of Spring Valley and several small creeks went out of their banks including Spring Valley, Little Kingsley, Deer and Bear. In the city of Spring Valley, water from Spring Valley creek flooded the downtown area for the first time in more than a decade. At least three people tried to drive their vehicles through the flood waters with all three vehicles becoming stranded. Two of the people needed assistance from the Spring Valley fire department to be safely removed from the flood waters. Near Ostrander, water went over County Road 14 and deposited debris from a farm field that made travel difficult after the water receded. |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ostrander | $35,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Ostrander | $25,000 | no account filed |
| May 2013 | Flash Flood | Ostrander | $20,000 | Heavy rains across the western sections of Fillmore County caused numerous roads to be closed and basement flooding to occur in Spring Valley. The high water stranded several heads of cattle in the Wykoff and Fillmore areas. |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ostrander | $18,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ostrander | $13,000 | no account filed |
| April 2026 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ostrander | $10,000 | The public reported a 100 ft tall empty grain bin that collapsed in addition to a large tree that was pushed over. |
| June 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ostrander | $8,000 | no account filed |
| June 2024 | Flash Flood | Ostrander | $5,000 | The public reported a mudslide closed Highway 63 south of Spring Valley. |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ostrander | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ostrander | $2,000 | Trees were blown down onto power lines in Ostrander. |
| June 2001 | Hail | Ostrander | $2,000 | no account filed |
| May 2006 | Hail | Ostrander | $1,000 | no account filed |
| September 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ostrander | $500 | In Ostrander, 6 inch diameter trees branches were snapped off by high winds. |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ostrander | - | Emergency management reported a 58 mph wind gust near Ostrander. |
| September 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ostrander | - | A trained spotter estimated a 60 mph wind gust 2 miles northeast of Ostrander. |
| April 2022 | Hail | Ostrander | - | Quarter sized hail fell near Ostrander. |
| September 2014 | Hail | Ostrander | - | Quarter sized hail fell in Ostrander. |
| July 2009 | Hail | Ostrander | - | Hail occurred on Highway 63, along with very heavy rain. |
| June 1995 | Hail | Ostrander | - | Hail shredded young corn and soybean plants. Over three inches of rain fell that afternoon in Ostrander. |
| April 2009 | Hail | Ostrander | - | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Hail | Ostrander | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ostrander | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Ostrander | - | no account filed |
| May 2006 | Hail | Ostrander | - | no account filed |
| August 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ostrander | - | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | Ostrander | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Ostrander | - | no account filed |
| June 1997 | Hail | Ostrander | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Etna | 4.4 miles | 7 | |
| Spring Valley | 5.5 miles | 7 | |
| Cherry Grove | 7.6 miles | 7 | |
| Freiheit Spring | 8.7 miles | 8 | |
| York | 10.1 miles | 7 | |
| Hamilton | 10.3 miles | 9 | |
| Wykoff | 10.6 miles | 8 | |
| Forestville | 11.5 miles | 8 |
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 Ostrander | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q741558 | 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 649031. 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.




