Spicer, Minnesota
10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Spicer City. It lies in ZIP code area 56288. The Survey maps it on the Spicer quadrangle. 1,112 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,171 feet above sea level.
On record in Spicer
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 1 record
- John M. Spicer Summer House and Farmlisted 1986
Population over time
2 figuresSpicer fell from 1,167 to 1,112 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 | 1,167 | |
| 2020 | 1,112 | -55 (-5%) |
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 Saint Cloud quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1956 USGS Atwater quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Saint Cloud quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Saint Cloud quadrangle1:250000
- 1982 USGS Spicer quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Litchfield quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
1 since 2020Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Spicer in 2020, burning under an acre in total. None started naturally. None 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 |
|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 September 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
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 Spicer: 9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| De Cathelineau Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Eagle Lake Pit & Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Elliot Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Mcbroom Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Oscar Erickson Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Ringo Lake Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Ringo Lake Pit and Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Tallakson Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Willmar Realty Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
27 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Spicer in 27 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 11 hail, 10 thunderstorm wind, 4 tornado, 1 strong wind. The reports record 2 injuries. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2001 | Tornado (F1) | Spicer | 2 hurt | Sheds and pole barns down. Church lost part of its roof. Two people were injured when their truck and camper were flung to the edge of a lake. |
| August 2020 | Tornado (EF1) | Spicer | $250,000 | A NWS survey, plus storm chasers video indicated an EF-1 tornado across portions of eastern Kandiyohi County, or the Irving Township area. This tornado destroyed one large shed and heavily damaged another. Drone video indicated the exact track of the tornado as it moved into Meeker County. |
| July 2009 | Tornado (EF1) | Spicer | $250,000 | A National Weather Service storm survey, plus visual reports and video, confirmed that a tornado moved through portions of Kandiyohi County near the town of Spicer. Portions of downtown Spicer were damaged, including the partial destruction of the upper level of a home, roof damage to multiple houses, several outbuildings destroyed, and a dozen or more car windows blown out at the local Green Mall parking lot. Maximum wind damage was estimated between 100 to 110 mph. |
| August 2020 | Tornado (EF0) | Spicer | $100,000 | An NWS survey found EF-0 tornado damage along and south of Green Lake around Spicer. The county emergency manager reported portion of a metal roof was blown off near the beginning of the tornado. As it moved northeast, dozens of trees were snapped, and docks along the lake sustained damage. The tornado was documented on several videos, and drone images also provided information on the damage path, including the ending point of the tornado. |
| April 2014 | Lightning | Spicer | $50,000 | An early-morning lightning strike ignited a fire that caused extensive damage to a house overlooking Green Lake near Spicer, Minnesota. The lightning sparked a fire which destroyed a utility room and moved upward to the second story and roof. The interior suffered smoke damage, the electrical system was destroyed, and there was other charring and heat damage. |
| July 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spicer | $10,000 | Power poles were blown down near Spicer. |
| July 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spicer | $10,000 | A National Weather Service storm survey found straight-line wind damage associated with the rear-flank downdraft of the tornadic thunderstorm that went through Spicer. Localized extensive tree damage was observed where winds were estimated between 90 and 100 mph. |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spicer | - | A thunderstorm wind gust estimated at 60 mph downed two trees in Dovre Township. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spicer | - | The local emergency manager, and a local cooperative observer reported numerous trees, some up to 30 inches in diameter, blown down from north of Willmar to Green Lake, or around Spicer. |
| May 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spicer | - | Several power lines were blown down and caused power outages around the area. |
| June 2005 | Hail | Spicer | - | Nickel sized hail fell at the intersection of Highway 71 and County Road 10. |
| May 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spicer | - | A garage under construction on 113th Ave. NE (Route 10) was damaged. The time was estimated. |
| June 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spicer | - | Large branches were downed. |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spicer | - | Scattered trees down. Boats and docks lifted on Green Lake. |
| June 2001 | Hail | Spicer | - | Wind driven large hail caused major damage across Kandiyohi County. Damage estimate for the county is listed with the 3 S Sunburg to 1 E Atwater listing. |
| July 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spicer | - | Several residences and vehicles damaged from falling trees. |
| May 1997 | Strong Wind | Spicer | - | Roof torn off cabin on southeast shore of Lake Florida. Wind estimated at 45 knots. |
| September 2020 | Hail | Spicer | - | no account filed |
| September 2020 | Hail | Spicer | - | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Hail | Spicer | - | no account filed |
| August 2011 | Hail | Spicer | - | no account filed |
| July 2008 | Hail | Spicer | - | no account filed |
| September 2005 | Hail | Spicer | - | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Spicer | - | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Hail | Spicer | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Hail | Spicer | - | no account filed |
| August 1993 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spicer | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| New London | 4.7 miles | 8 | |
| Kandiyohi | 7.0 miles | 10 | |
| Willmar | 9.4 miles | 10 | |
| Hawick | 9.9 miles | 8 | |
| Parkwood Estates | 10.5 miles | 10 | |
| Atwater | 10.8 miles | 10 | |
| Norway Lake | 10.9 miles | 8 | |
| Regal | 13.0 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 Spicer | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2088811 | 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 652380. 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.





