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Paynesville, Minnesota

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Paynesville City. It lies in ZIP code area 56362. It lies near Bonanza Valley. The Survey maps it on the Paynesville quadrangle. 2,388 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,171 feet above sea level.

Paynesville within Stearns County

Population over time

2 figures

Paynesville fell from 2,432 to 2,388 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
20102,432
20202,388-44 (-2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 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

6,410 words on this township

History of Stearns County, Minnesota, published 1915 names this settlement in its chapter on Paynesville City. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

The story of Paynesville, looking backward for a space of fifty-seven years, as gathered from the persons engaged in making the incidents happening therein and from the scanty records which were preserved of the earlier days, is in many respects very unsatisfactory, but withal very absorbing. At times the want of a public record, as is the case in the town of Verdale for one or two years years during the Indian and Civil Wars is very suggestive and eloquently tells the story of all men "to the front."

Passage source: History of Stearns County, Minnesota, published 1915.

The story of Paynesville from 1857 to the present day is a very real one to the few now left of the pioneers of fifty-seven years ago. Those gray-haired men and women in telling now of the incidents of the earlier life speak enthusiastically of the good old times, lightly of the hardships, eloquently of the friendships of those days and reverently and kindly of the many old settlers who have gone before.

Passage source: History of Stearns County, Minnesota, published 1915.

Paynesville, or more properly speaking, the country which has since become Paynesville, must have presented a very attractive appearance to the prospective settler and townsite locator fifty-seven years ago, as the early records show three attempts to locate townsites at and near what is now the location of this village.

Passage source: History of Stearns County, Minnesota, published 1915.

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 Paynesville City - it names this place 35 more 35 times.

Fires near this place

4 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Paynesville between 1999 and 2007, burning about 85 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
Debris and open burning3
Arson/incendiarism1

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
18 May 2007Arson/incendiarism15 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
25 October 1999Debris and open burning70 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
1 January 2001Debris and open burningunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
1 January 2000Debris and open burningunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Stearns County

Storms near this place

38 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Paynesville in 38 storm reports between 1994 and 2024: 21 hail, 13 thunderstorm wind, 2 funnel cloud, 1 flash 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2018Thunderstorm WindPaynesville-A small area of intense downburst winds occurred on the south side of Paynesville. The local airport (KPEX), recorded a measured wind gust of 56 mph at 5:35 PM CST. Several trees were uprooted, and the debris was spread across a school parking lot.
June 2016HailPaynesville-Quarter size hail continued for 10 minutes.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindPaynesville-A large tree was blown down in Paynesville.
June 2012Heavy RainPaynesville-An observer measured 2.20 inches of rainfall in the last 24 hours.
August 2009Flash FloodPaynesville-The local law enforcement officials in Stearns County reported that flooding occurred along Highway 23 around Paynesville. The officials indicated that over two feet of standing water flooded portions of Highway 23 on the north side of town.
April 2005HailPaynesville-Hail covered County Road 55.
September 2005Thunderstorm WindPaynesville-Power lines were downed in town. Trees were downed at Lake Koronis Regional Park.
September 2005Funnel CloudPaynesville-A trained spotter reported a funnel cloud one mile north of Paynesville.
May 2004Thunderstorm WindPaynesville-A pontoon boat was blown off its lift.
May 2004Thunderstorm WindPaynesville-A 10 inch diameter tree was snapped in half.
July 2003Thunderstorm WindPaynesville-Numerous trees down, roof off a barn; machine shed blown about 100 feet.
July 2000Thunderstorm WindPaynesville-Several large trees down.
June 1999Thunderstorm WindPaynesville-Barn destroyed. Winds estimated.
July 1997Thunderstorm WindPaynesville-Large tree limb down. Estimated windspeed.
June 1997Thunderstorm WindPaynesville-Trees blown down. Roof ripped off garage and flipped onto nearby house. Estimated windspeed.
July 1995HailPaynesville-One and one-quarter-inch hail swath occurred from three miles west of Paynesville to one mile west of Paynesville. Five and one-half inches of rain reported with the storm.
August 2024Thunderstorm WindPaynesville-no account filed
May 2022HailPaynesville-no account filed
September 2022HailPaynesville-no account filed
July 2016Thunderstorm WindPaynesville-no account filed
June 2010HailPaynesville-no account filed
May 2008HailPaynesville-no account filed
July 2005HailPaynesville-no account filed
September 2005HailPaynesville-no account filed
September 2005Funnel CloudPaynesville-no account filed
May 2004HailPaynesville-no account filed
May 2004HailPaynesville-no account filed
July 2003HailPaynesville-no account filed
June 2003HailPaynesville-no account filed
April 2002HailPaynesville-no account filed
June 2002HailPaynesville-no account filed
July 2002HailPaynesville-no account filed
May 1998HailPaynesville-no account filed
June 1998HailPaynesville-no account filed
June 1998HailPaynesville-no account filed
June 1997HailPaynesville-no account filed
July 1996Thunderstorm WindPaynesville-no account filed
August 1994HailPaynesville-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Stearns 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
Roscoe5.3 miles8
Lake Henry7.1 miles8
Saint Martin8.7 miles8
Farming11.1 miles9
Richmond11.5 miles9
Spring Hill11.7 miles8
Georgeville11.9 miles8
Saint Nicholas14.6 miles9

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 PaynesvilleAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1012284The 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 649194. 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.