Staples, Minnesota
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Staples City. It lies in ZIP code area 56479. The Survey maps it on the Staples quadrangle. 2,989 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,280 feet above sea level.
On record in Staples
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 2 records
Batcher Opera House Blocklisted 2004
Northern Pacific Railway Depot and Freighthouselisted 2008
Population over time
2 figuresStaples fell from 3,104 to 2,989 between 2000 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 3,104 | |
| 2020 | 2,989 | -115 (-4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 9 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
- 1965 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Staples quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
89 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 89 fires within 5 miles of Staples between 1992 and 2019, burning about 933 acres in total. None started naturally. 17 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 | 43 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 17 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 9 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 5 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 5 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 September 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 20 September 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 2 September 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 31 August 1996 | Debris and open burning | 3.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 26 July 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 16 July 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 10 June 1997 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 2.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 8 May 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.2 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Staples: 1 producer. 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 |
Storms near this place
26 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Staples in 26 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 13 thunderstorm wind, 9 hail, 2 tornado, 1 flash flood. The reports record 1 injury. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2000 | Tornado (F2) | Staples | 1 hurt | Roofs blown off homes and one business. At least one dozen homes damaged. Numerous large trees down. One minor injury in Staples due to flying glass. Tornado crossed over from Wadena county. |
| September 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Staples | $50,000 | Several trees and power lines were blown down in the City of Staples. In addition, the Staples airport, approximately 1 mile north of downtown Staples, in Wadena County, had a measured wind gust of 79 mph at 531 CST. |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Staples | $50,000 | Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted. Some trees came down on homes and sheds. The roofs of two garages were blown off, and a camper was rolled about 40 feet. Most damage was in the south side of town. |
| July 2009 | Flash Flood | Staples | $25,000 | Several thunderstorm complexes moved through northern Todd and northwestern Morrison Counties where locally four to six inches of rain fell in less than two hours. Due to poor drainage and the excessive rainfall, flash flooding developed in the town of Staples where evacuation occurred in homes on 5th street, and power was shut off to Staples High Rise Apartments on 4th street due to the high water. |
| July 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Staples | $15,000 | Roof damage occurred in the town of Staples along with power outages. |
| May 2022 | Tornado (EF1) | Staples | - | A tornado developed in far northern Todd County and hit two farmsteads before exiting into Wadena County (see corresponding entry from NWS Grand Forks). At the first farmstead, a garage door was blown in and part of the garage roof came off. Maximum winds for the Todd County portion were estimated to be 90 mph. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Staples | - | Several trees were blown down along with power lines. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Staples | - | Downburst damage was noted north of the tornado track. Initially, wooden poles were leaning and several oak and pine trees were snapped, and this is where the strongest winds were noted. As the downburst entered Staples, dozens of large trees were uprooted and many large branches were broken from Airport Rd to the east side of town. Winds across Staples were estimated in the 60-70 mph range. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Staples | - | A few trees were downed. |
| July 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Staples | - | A 10-inch diameter tree and numerous branches were downed. |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Staples | - | A wide swath of damaging wind accompanied a brief tornado that touched down 7 SW Philbrook. The NWS damage survey, however, determined that the vast majority of the damage in northeastern Todd County was due to the strong wind associated with this tornadic storm. The swath of damaging wind was about six miles wide and 9 miles long in Todd County (it continued for another three miles in Morrison County - see corresponding entry). Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of trees were downed by the winds that blew from northeast to southwest. Some trees fell on houses, outbuildings, and vehicles. Many trees were felled in the community of Philbrook. |
| September 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Staples | - | Wind gust to 78 mph reported at Staples Municipal Airport, just to the north of Staples in Wadena County. Trees blown down in the city of Staples. Buildings damaged at farmstead on the northwest edge of the city. Roof torn off Stern Rubber Company. Rooftop heating and cooling units ripped off McKechnie Tool and Engineering. |
| August 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Staples | - | Trailer blown over. Several large trees blown over. Estimated windspeed. |
| June 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Staples | - | Strong thunderstorm winds damaged a store and blew down several large trees. |
| June 2025 | Funnel Cloud | Staples | - | no account filed |
| July 2022 | Hail | Staples | - | no account filed |
| July 2010 | Hail | Staples | - | no account filed |
| July 2008 | Hail | Staples | - | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Hail | Staples | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Staples | - | no account filed |
| April 2002 | Hail | Staples | - | no account filed |
| September 2002 | Hail | Staples | - | no account filed |
| August 1997 | Hail | Staples | - | no account filed |
| July 1996 | Hail | Staples | - | no account filed |
| August 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Staples | - | no account filed |
| July 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Staples | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Philbrook | 6.4 miles | 10 | |
| Bertha | 15.6 miles | 9 | |
| Hewitt | 15.7 miles | 9 | |
| Clarissa | 17.6 miles | 9 | |
| Eagle Bend | 18.6 miles | 9 | |
| Browerville | 19.0 miles | 9 | |
| Long Prairie | 26.6 miles | 9 | |
| Clotho | 26.7 miles | 9 |
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 Staples | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2227729 | 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 652547. 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.





