Elmira, Missouri
14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1924 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Polk Township. It lies in ZIP code area 64062. It stands on Burnt Fork. The Survey maps it on the Elmira quadrangle. 39 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 955 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresElmira fell from 50 to 39 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 | 50 | |
| 2020 | 39 | -11 (-22%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 14 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.
- 1924 USGS Polo quadrangle1:62500, 2 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
- 1984 USGS Elmira quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Saint Joseph quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
In the county-history sources
50,099 words on this townshipHistory of Ray County, Mo., published 1881 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for smaller places. Its township is covered in full.
The chapter on Polk Township covers the township.
Read the chapter on Polk Township - 50,099 words.
Fires near this place
36 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 36 fires within 5 miles of Elmira between 1992 and 2018, burning about 343 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 was 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 | 18 |
| Debris and open burning | 14 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 September 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | not named |
| 16 August 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Missouri Department of Conservation | 177896-08922-08162018-1726 |
| 8 July 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Missouri Department of Conservation | 177899-08922-07082018-1237 |
| 31 July 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Missouri Department of Conservation | 177895-08922-07312018-0935 |
| 25 July 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Missouri Department of Conservation | 177900-08922-07252018-1617 |
| 22 July 2018 | Smoking | under an acre | Missouri Department of Conservation | 177894-08922-07222018-2047 |
| 7 May 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | not named |
| 5 May 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Elmira: 1 past producer. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Campbell Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
4 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Elmira in 4 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 3 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2025 | Hail | Elmira | - | Half dollar sized hail was reported in Elmira. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elmira | - | Downed wires near 228th Street near Elmira. |
| April 2010 | Hail | Elmira | - | no account filed |
| April 1995 | Hail | Elmira | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elmira Camp | 0.8 miles | 19 | |
| Sandals | 4.9 miles | 17 | |
| Lawson | 5.4 miles | 19 | |
| Knoxville | 8.4 miles | 17 | |
| Excelsior Estates | 8.5 miles | 19 | |
| Vibbard | 8.8 miles | 19 | |
| Homestead | 10.3 miles | 18 | |
| Crystal Lakes | 10.4 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 Elmira | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2677531 | 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 717545. 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.






