Philbrook, Minnesota
10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Villard Township. It lies in ZIP code area 56466. It stands on Fish Trap Creek. The Survey maps it on the Motley quadrangle. It stands 1,250 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 10 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.
- 1953 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:250000
- 1963 USGS Motley quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:250000
- 1986 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
79 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 79 fires within 5 miles of Philbrook between 1992 and 2020, burning about 777 acres in total. None started naturally. 8 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 burning | 36 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 13 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 11 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 8 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 8 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 September 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 11 September 1998 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 3 August 2015 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 2 August 1997 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 26 July 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 1 July 2001 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 1 July 1995 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 30 June 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 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
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Philbrook: 3 producers. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cary Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| East Zetah Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Zetah Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
9 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Philbrook in 9 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 4 hail, 2 tornado, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2020 | Tornado (EF1) | Philbrook | $25,000 | An NWS survey found damage consistent with an EF-1 tornado in northeastern Todd County about 6 miles west of Cushing. The tornado touched down 0.2 miles northwest of Big Lake and traveled north-northeast for nearly 5.2 miles as it moved into Morrison County, near Lincoln. The most significant damage in Todd County was along Star Lake, where several hundred trees were broken and uprooted. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Philbrook | - | Multiple trees were downed near US10 south of Motley and just west of the Morrison/Todd County line. Relayed via county dispatch. |
| July 2020 | Hail | Philbrook | - | There were several reports of quarter size hail just north of the Todd/Cass County border, and also southeast into northeast Todd County. |
| August 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Philbrook | - | A few large trees were blown down with one tree taking down a power line. |
| July 2003 | Tornado (F0) | Philbrook | - | Brief touchdown in wooded area along road. This tornado was associated with the storm that produced downburst damage from 1445 to 1500 from 3 S Staples to 2 SE Lincoln. |
| July 2014 | Hail | Philbrook | - | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Funnel Cloud | Philbrook | - | no account filed |
| June 1997 | Hail | Philbrook | - | no account filed |
| July 1996 | Hail | Philbrook | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Staples | 6.4 miles | 9 | |
| Browerville | 15.7 miles | 9 | |
| Clarissa | 16.2 miles | 9 | |
| Bertha | 18.4 miles | 9 | |
| Eagle Bend | 18.9 miles | 9 | |
| Hewitt | 19.8 miles | 9 | |
| Long Prairie | 22.7 miles | 9 | |
| Pillsbury | 24.2 miles | 10 |
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 Philbrook | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7182991 | 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 649354. 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.





