Taconite, Minnesota
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1920 and the latest in 1992. It stands in Taconite City. It lies in ZIP code area 55786. The Survey maps it on the Bovey quadrangle. 651 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,398 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresTaconite grew from 360 to 651 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 | 360 | |
| 2020 | 651 | +291 (+81%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 12 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.
- 1920 USGS Trout Lake quadrangle1:62500
- 1952 USGS Bovey quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1954 USGS Hibbing quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Hibbing quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Hibbing quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Hibbing quadrangle1:250000
- 1992 USGS Pokegama Lake quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
159 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 159 fires within 5 miles of Taconite between 1992 and 2020, burning about 843 acres in total. None started naturally. 100 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 |
|---|---|
| Arson/incendiarism | 100 |
| Debris and open burning | 32 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16 |
| Smoking | 5 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 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 | Arson/incendiarism | 3.8 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 21 August 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 5 July 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 5 June 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 11 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 9 May 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.5 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 8 May 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 8 May 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 8 May 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 4.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 79 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 79 workings within 5 miles of Taconite: 43 past producers, 27 producers, 7 prospects, 2 occurrences. 27 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Limestone, General, Aluminum, Iron, Manganese, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Silica, Water, Free, Water, Free. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arcturus | Iron, Silica | Producer | 1917 | |
| Buckeye Mine | Iron, Aluminum, Manganese, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Water, Free, Silica | Past Producer | 1943 | |
| Holman-Cliffs Mine | Iron, Manganese, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Silica, Water, Free, Aluminum | Past Producer | 1907 | |
| U.S. Steel Reserve O-69 | Iron, Aluminum, Manganese, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Silica, Water, Free | Prospect | ||
| Delaware #1 & #2 | Iron, Water, Free | Past Producer | 1913 | |
| Hill Lake Pit & Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Homestead 0-68 Reserve | Aluminum, Iron, Manganese, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Silica, Water, Free | Prospect | ||
| Itasca County Marl Beds No 1 | Limestone, General | Occurrence | ||
| Itasca County Marl Beds No 2 | Limestone, General | Occurrence | ||
| Plummer Group | Iron, Water, Free | Past Producer | 1954 |
Storms near this place
16 since 2003Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Taconite in 16 storm reports between 2003 and 2025: 8 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 1 flash flood, 1 heavy rain. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Taconite | - | A power pole was snapped and several trees were blown over on top of powerlines. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Taconite | - | At least 5 balsam trees estimated to be 6 to 8 inches in diameter were downed. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Taconite | - | Several trees 4 to 5 inches in diameter were down along with downed power lines due to trees falling on them. |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Taconite | - | Multiple branches were broken along with a power outage. |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Taconite | - | A large poplar tree was downed with several other trees lying on powerlines. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Taconite | - | There were numerous trees down on the property. The wind lasted for about 30 minutes. The power was out from 8 pm until the early morning. |
| July 2015 | Hail | Taconite | - | It hailed for about 15 minutes starting just before 7:30 pm. The largest hailstone was quarter-size. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Taconite | - | The power lines fell down onto the deck and the power went out. |
| May 2013 | Flood | Taconite | - | The Prairie River at Taconite rose above its flood stage of 10.0 feet to a crest of 10.02 feet at 4:15 pm on May 4. There were no impacts. |
| June 2011 | Heavy Rain | Taconite | - | Rainfall of 3.15 inches was reported. |
| September 2007 | Flash Flood | Taconite | - | Itasca County Sheriff's Office repoorted U.S. Highway 169 under 4 to 7 inches of water in Taconite. |
| August 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Taconite | - | Trees were blown down. |
| June 2024 | Hail | Taconite | - | no account filed |
| June 2024 | Hail | Taconite | - | no account filed |
| July 2023 | Hail | Taconite | - | no account filed |
| June 2022 | Hail | Taconite | - | 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.
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 Taconite | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2453981 | 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 658590. 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.






