Agency, Missouri
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1925 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Agency Township. It lies in ZIP code area 64401. It lies near Possum Hollow. The Survey maps it on the Agency quadrangle. 671 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 827 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresAgency fell from 684 to 671 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 | 684 | |
| 2020 | 671 | -13 (-2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 15 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.
- 1925 USGS Gower quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1950 USGS Kansas City quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Kansas City quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Kansas City quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1960 USGS Kansas City quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1971 USGS Agency quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Saint Joseph quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
In the county-history sources
5,911 words on this townshipThe History of Buchanan County, Missouri : Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, Etc., Biographical Sketches of Its Citizens, Buchanan County in the Late War, General and Local Statisics, Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men, History of Missouri, Map of Buchanan County, Etc., Etc, published 1881 names this settlement in its chapter on Agency Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
Where the town of Agency now stands there was formerly a ford, -extensively used in the days of the early settlement of the country, called Agency Ford. The name originated from the fact that the Platte River was forded at this point, in going from the Indian Agency, established west of the Platte, to Liberty, Clay County, Missouri, in those days, the nearest point of trade.
The country surrounding Agency is essentially a timbered region, not more than two hundred acres of the township being prairie. Of late, however, much of this timber has disappeared from the ridges extending between the northern boundary of the township and Platte River. The prevailing character of the ridge timber is oak of different varieties. The bottom affords an abundance of fine walnut as well as other kinds of valuable timber.
About the year 1846 or '47, Eli Arnold, a native of Ohio, erected on the site of the present village of Arnoldsville, about four miles west of the Platte River, a large frame building, which he equipped as a grist mill, and for a time operated it by horse power. Finding this means too costly to be profitable, he procured from Cincinnati an engine and boiler, and substituted steam for horse power. The difficulty of procuring the necessary water however, proved an obstacle to the complete success of the enterprise, and, after remaining idle for some time, the machinery was, after the war, sold to W. B. Smith, and moved to Agency. The old burrs are still in Cooley's water mill below Agency. The old mill building still remains, a gloomy reminder of the early and mistaken enterprise of a pioneer, who has long since passed to the land of shadows, where grists are not ground and where mistakes never occur.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Read the whole chapter on Agency Township - it names this place 29 more 29 times.
Fires near this place
17 since 2018Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 17 fires within 5 miles of Agency between 2018 and 2020, burning about 151 acres in total. None started naturally. 5 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 5 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Other causes | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 July 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Missouri Department of Conservation | 177407-01180-07242018-2100 |
| 10 June 2019 | Debris and open burning | 1.5 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | 189940-01180-06102019-1825 |
| 30 April 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 26 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | 176954-01180-04302018-1750 |
| 8 March 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 21 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | 176120-01180-03082018-1243 |
| 15 March 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 3.2 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | 176117-01180-03152018-1613 |
| 14 March 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 2.1 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | 176118-01180-03142018-1336 |
| 13 March 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Missouri Department of Conservation | 176115-01180-03132018-1540 |
| 13 March 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 6.4 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | 176116-01180-03132018-1626 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
5 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Agency: 5 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dearborn Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Everett Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
27 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Agency in 27 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 13 hail, 9 thunderstorm wind, 4 flood, 1 tornado. 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 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Agency | $2,000 | Powerlines were reported down. |
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Agency | - | Several reports of downed wires and power outages south of St. Joseph. |
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Agency | - | Social media video of a downed tree on power lines in southeast Saint Joseph. |
| March 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Agency | - | Fence blown over and minor property damage at a residence in Agency. |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Agency | - | Social media report of several downed trees and limbs north of Agency. |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Agency | - | Dispatch reports multiple trees downed near Agency. |
| July 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Agency | - | Downed tree limbs and power wires. |
| April 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Agency | - | Estimated 50 to 60 mph. |
| December 2008 | Flood | Agency | - | The Platte River near Agency crested at 22.27 feet, or 2.27 feet above flood stage. |
| May 2007 | Flood | Agency | - | The Platte River near Agency crested at 34.40 feet, or 14.40 feet above flood stage. Damage was confined to agricultural interests. |
| February 2007 | Flood | Agency | - | The Platte River near Agency crested at 20.06 feet, or 0.06 feet above flood stage. |
| August 2006 | Flood | Agency | - | The Platte River near Agency crested at 24.42 feet, or 4.42 feet above flood stage. |
| August 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Agency | - | Large tree limbs down. |
| May 2004 | Tornado (F0) | Agency | - | Brief tornado touchdown. |
| June 1998 | Hail | Agency | - | Golfball-size hail was reported during a severe thunderstorm 4 miles north of Agency. |
| April 2019 | Hail | Agency | - | no account filed |
| September 2014 | Hail | Agency | - | no account filed |
| April 2014 | Hail | Agency | - | no account filed |
| November 2013 | Hail | Agency | - | no account filed |
| November 2013 | Hail | Agency | - | no account filed |
| November 2013 | Hail | Agency | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Agency | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Agency | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Agency | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Agency | - | no account filed |
| April 2000 | Hail | Agency | - | no account filed |
| June 1996 | Hail | Agency | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Willow Brook | 3.1 miles | 18 | |
| Pinkston | 3.4 miles | 18 | |
| Garrettsburg | 3.6 miles | 15 | |
| Evansville | 3.7 miles | 15 | |
| Frazier | 4.0 miles | 15 | |
| Richie | 4.1 miles | 18 | |
| Faucett | 4.3 miles | 18 | |
| Matney | 4.5 miles | 18 |
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 Agency | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q933876 | 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 739972. 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.






