BlockBefore

Waite Park, Minnesota

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1950 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Waite Park City. It lies in ZIP code area 56387. The Survey maps it on the Saint Cloud quadrangle. 8,341 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,070 feet above sea level.

Waite Park within Stearns County

Population over time

2 figures

Waite Park grew from 6,715 to 8,341 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
20106,715
20208,341+1,626 (+24%)

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

25 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 25 fires within 5 miles of Waite Park between 1993 and 2018, burning about 77 acres in total. None started naturally. 13 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/incendiarism13
Debris and open burning6
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2
Smoking1
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
12 September 1998Debris and open burningunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
12 August 2003Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
11 August 2003Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.1 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
31 July 2007Arson/incendiarism3.0 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
21 June 2008Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
8 May 2018Debris and open burning8.0 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
2 May 2000Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
6 April 1995Debris and open burning1.0 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Stearns County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Waite Park: 4 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Granite, Stone, Crushed/Broken, 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Hardrives Pit and MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
J L Shiely Co Quarry & MillStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Charcoal Gray QuarryGraniteProducer
Diamond Pink QuarryGraniteProducer

Every working recorded in Stearns County

Storms near this place

32 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Waite Park in 32 storm reports between 1999 and 2025: 14 hail, 10 thunderstorm wind, 3 lightning, 2 heavy rain. The reports record 1 death and 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2009LightningWaite Park1 killed, 1 hurtSeveral thunderstorms developed across the St. Cloud area the afternoon of May 6th. An individual was working in his backyard at the time one of the thunderstorms moved through and was struck by lightning. The injuries related to the lightning strike caused his unfortunate death six days later.
August 2011LightningWaite Park$100,000Lightning struck Hardrives Inc, business in Waite Park, Minnesota, and caused damage to the building.
June 2013Thunderstorm WindWaite Park$50,000Several large trees, some over two feet in diameter, were blown down across the a large portion of St. Cloud, Minnesota. Some of the trees were entirely uprooted, and power was out in parts of St. Cloud.
July 2010Tornado (EF0)Waite Park$50,000About one dozen trees, and some large branches, were broken or toppled. Minor damage to several houses was noted.
July 2015LightningWaite Park$400A St. Cloud home suffered minor fire damage caused by a lightning strike Tuesday morning, July 28th. Firefighters arrived to find a small fire that the homeowner had put out with an extinguisher. The fire department estimated damage to the house at $400, and reported no injuries.
May 2025Funnel CloudWaite Park-A trained spotter reported seeing a funnel cloud to the southwest of their location in Sartell as a line of storms approached from St. Joseph.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindWaite Park-Thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 mph downed several large tree limbs, blocking trailway.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindWaite Park-Thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 mph downed a large pine tree down in southern Waite Park.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindWaite Park-Thunderstorm winds estimated at 65 mph downed several large trees near CR4 north of Waite Park.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindWaite Park-A few large tree branches were blown down around St. Cloud.
June 2022Heavy RainWaite Park-Storm total from overnight thunderstorms 4.20 inches.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindWaite Park-There were two large trees uprooted.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindWaite Park-Large trees were blown down.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindWaite Park-Numerous trees and power lines were blown down, including one tree on a house.
July 2015Flash FloodWaite Park-Multiple vehicles were reported stuck in high water at the intersection of 33rd Avenue and 8th Street North in St. Cloud. Other areas in the city of St. Cloud reported minor ponding of water at some intersections.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindWaite Park-Power lines and multiple trees downed.
June 2008HailWaite Park-Reported near 320th and County Road 4.
September 2005Heavy RainWaite Park-Three inches of water covered a road in Waite Park. Minor street flooding was reported at St. Cloud State University.
May 2022HailWaite Park-no account filed
May 2022HailWaite Park-no account filed
May 2022HailWaite Park-no account filed
May 2022HailWaite Park-no account filed
June 2022HailWaite Park-no account filed
June 2022HailWaite Park-no account filed
September 2017HailWaite Park-no account filed
July 2016HailWaite Park-no account filed
July 2016HailWaite Park-no account filed
July 2009HailWaite Park-no account filed
July 2008Thunderstorm WindWaite Park-no account filed
May 2008HailWaite Park-no account filed
June 2005HailWaite Park-no account filed
July 1999HailWaite Park-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Stearns 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
Riverview Park0.6 miles12
Saint Cloud3.3 miles12
Five Points4.0 miles12
Hi-Vue Park4.0 miles12
Sartell4.5 miles12
Evergreen Village4.5 miles12
Saint Joseph5.0 miles12
Pleasant Lake5.3 miles8

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 Waite ParkAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1924119The 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 653722. 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.