Tower, Minnesota
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1994. It stands in Tower City. It lies in ZIP code area 55790. It stands on East Two River. The Survey maps it on the Tower quadrangle. 430 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,394 feet above sea level.
On record in Tower
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 10 records
Soudan Iron MineNational Historic Landmark · listed 1966
Elias and Lisi Aho Historic Farmsteadlisted 1990
Duluth and Iron Range Railroad Company Passenger Stationlisted 2013
Gregorius and Mary Hanka Historic Farmsteadlisted 1990
Erick and Kristina Nelimark Saunalisted 1990
Alex Seitaniemi Housebarnlisted 1990
Waino Tanttari Field Hay Barnlisted 1990
Tower Fire Halllisted 1980- Matt and Emma Hill Historic Farmsteadlisted 1990
- Mike and Mary Matson Historic Farmsteadlisted 1990
Population over time
2 figuresTower fell from 500 to 430 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 | 500 | |
| 2020 | 430 | -70 (-14%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 11 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.
- 1954 USGS Hibbing quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1956 USGS Tower quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1957 USGS Hibbing quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Hibbing quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Hibbing quadrangle1:250000
- 1994 USGS Vermillion Lake quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
77 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 77 fires within 5 miles of Tower between 1992 and 2019, burning about 31 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 10 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 | 30 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 15 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 10 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 6 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
| Natural | 4 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 6 September 2006 | Natural | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 6 September 1998 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 19 September 2016 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 15 September 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 9 August 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 31 August 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 30 August 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 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
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Tower: 1 unknown, 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Gold, Iron. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North American Mine | Gold | Unknown | Gold | |
| Soudan Iron Mine | Iron | Past Producer | Hematite, Magnetite |
Storms near this place
7 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Tower in 7 storm reports between 1998 and 2019: 6 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tower | - | An 18 inch diameter tree was downed with the tops of a few 100-year-old pine trees broken off as well. |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tower | - | Twenty-inch diameter pine trees were blown down on Birch Point of Lake Vermilion. |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tower | - | Two large trees fell on a truck near Isle of Pines on Lake Vermilion, barely missing its occupants. |
| July 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tower | - | no account filed |
| April 2003 | Hail | Tower | - | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tower | - | no account filed |
| August 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tower | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tower Junction | 1.0 miles | 11 | |
| Soudan | 2.1 miles | 12 | |
| Wahlsten | 4.8 miles | 13 | |
| Peyla | 4.9 miles | 11 | |
| Murray | 5.0 miles | 12 | |
| Eagles Nest | 9.7 miles | 12 | |
| Salo Corner | 10.0 miles | 13 | |
| Embarrass | 10.9 miles | 12 |
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 Tower | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2151661 | 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 662661. 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.





