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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.

Taconite within Itasca County

Population over time

2 figures

Taconite 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.

YearPeople Change
2010360
2020651+291 (+81%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 12 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.

Fires near this place

159 since 1992

Regional 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/incendiarism100
Debris and open burning32
Missing data/not specified/undetermined16
Smoking5
Equipment and vehicle use3
Recreation and ceremony2
Railroad operations and maintenance1

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
30 September 2012Arson/incendiarism3.8 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
21 August 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
5 July 2007Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
5 June 2002Arson/incendiarism11 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
9 May 2013Arson/incendiarism1.5 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
8 May 2006Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
8 May 2005Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
8 May 2004Arson/incendiarism4.0 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Itasca County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 79 shown

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
ArcturusIron, SilicaProducer1917
Buckeye MineIron, Aluminum, Manganese, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Water, Free, SilicaPast Producer1943
Holman-Cliffs MineIron, Manganese, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Silica, Water, Free, AluminumPast Producer1907
U.S. Steel Reserve O-69Iron, Aluminum, Manganese, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Silica, Water, FreeProspect
Delaware #1 & #2Iron, Water, FreePast Producer1913
Hill Lake Pit & MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Homestead 0-68 ReserveAluminum, Iron, Manganese, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Silica, Water, FreeProspect
Itasca County Marl Beds No 1Limestone, GeneralOccurrence
Itasca County Marl Beds No 2Limestone, GeneralOccurrence
Plummer GroupIron, Water, FreePast Producer1954

Every working recorded in Itasca County

Storms near this place

16 since 2003

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2025Thunderstorm WindTaconite-A power pole was snapped and several trees were blown over on top of powerlines.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindTaconite-At least 5 balsam trees estimated to be 6 to 8 inches in diameter were downed.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindTaconite-Several trees 4 to 5 inches in diameter were down along with downed power lines due to trees falling on them.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindTaconite-Multiple branches were broken along with a power outage.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindTaconite-A large poplar tree was downed with several other trees lying on powerlines.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindTaconite-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 2015HailTaconite-It hailed for about 15 minutes starting just before 7:30 pm. The largest hailstone was quarter-size.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindTaconite-The power lines fell down onto the deck and the power went out.
May 2013FloodTaconite-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 2011Heavy RainTaconite-Rainfall of 3.15 inches was reported.
September 2007Flash FloodTaconite-Itasca County Sheriff's Office repoorted U.S. Highway 169 under 4 to 7 inches of water in Taconite.
August 2003Thunderstorm WindTaconite-Trees were blown down.
June 2024HailTaconite-no account filed
June 2024HailTaconite-no account filed
July 2023HailTaconite-no account filed
June 2022HailTaconite-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Itasca 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
Holman0.6 miles10
Bovey2.3 miles12
Coleraine2.9 miles12
Silverwood3.9 miles10
Canisteo4.2 miles12
Marble4.5 miles10
Calumet5.6 miles10
Cort7.3 miles11

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 TaconiteAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2453981The 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.