Fair Play, Missouri
14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1984. It stands in East Madison Township. It lies in ZIP code area 65649. It stands on Barren Creek. The Survey maps it on the Fair Play quadrangle. 422 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 981 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresFair Play fell from 475 to 422 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 | 475 | |
| 2020 | 422 | -53 (-11%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 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.
- 1886 USGS Stockton quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1954 USGS Springfield quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1956 USGS Fair Play quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Springfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Springfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1984 USGS Bolivar quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
57 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 57 fires within 5 miles of Fair Play between 1992 and 2020, burning about 977 acres in total. 1 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 34 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 5 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Natural | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 September 1995 | Debris and open burning | 20 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | not named |
| 18 September 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5.0 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | not named |
| 4 August 1994 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | not named |
| 25 July 1997 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | not named |
| 7 May 1997 | Smoking | 2.0 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | not named |
| 23 April 1993 | Debris and open burning | 20 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | not named |
| 16 April 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | not named |
| 16 April 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Fair Play: 3 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Akard Land | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Bear Creek Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Fletcher Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Unknown - Limestone | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
29 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Fair Play in 29 storm reports between 1995 and 2023: 14 thunderstorm wind, 11 hail, 2 tornado, 1 flash flood. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2020 | Tornado (EF1) | Fair Play | $500,000 | A National Weather Service survey determined that an EF1 tornado touched down to the southwest of Fair Play in Cedar County and tracked to the northeast for a total of 8.8 miles, lifting west of Dunnegan in Polk County with maximum winds of 110 mph. Shortly after touchdown and downing trees in Cedar County, the tornado completely destroyed a manufactured home as it crossed the county line at South 10th Road into Polk County. The tornado then continued tracking to the northeast. It passed just to the west and northwest of Fair Play before crossing Highway 123. The tornado lifted just to the west of Highway 13 and to the north of East 380th Road in Polk County. Along the path of the tornado there were several trees uprooted or snapped, damage to a few homes, and several outbuildings destroyed. The tornado produced EF1 damage with maximum winds up to 110 mph and a max width of 50 yards. The tornado was on the ground for 14 minutes along an 8.8 mile path. |
| April 2022 | Hail | Fair Play | $250,000 | Softball sized hail was reported in the town of Fair Play. Significant roof and vehicle damage occurred as the hail moved through the town. Damages for this event have been included in the Bolivar event entry. |
| December 2019 | Tornado (EF0) | Fair Play | $55,000 | A National Weather Service survey confirmed a brief EF-0 tornado began near Fair Play, MO southwest of Highway 123 and tracked for nearly a mile and a half with maximum winds of 80 mph. The tornado tracked northeast with a maximum width of 75 yards, crossing Highway 123 and lifting just before Barren Creek. A few farm buildings were damaged along the path, in addition to several uprooted trees, snapped trees and tree branches downed. |
| May 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fair Play | $25,000 | Several trees and power lines were reported down. |
| February 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fair Play | $5,000 | A small greenhouse was lofted by straight line winds and thrown 100 yards. Several metal pipes were also bent. |
| June 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fair Play | $2,000 | Trees were reported down in Fair Play. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fair Play | $1,000 | There was roof damage to a barn. |
| October 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fair Play | $1,000 | A tree was reported down on Road 123 south of Route 32 between Fair Play and Aldrich. |
| August 2017 | Heavy Rain | Fair Play | - | A 24 hour rainfall total of 5.25 inches was measured at a CoCoRaHS station just east of Fair Play. |
| June 2015 | Flash Flood | Fair Play | - | South 60th Street near Highway 32 was flooded. |
| April 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fair Play | - | Numerous large limbs up to 6 inches in diameter were blown down and lying across Highway 123. |
| September 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fair Play | - | Several trees were blown down. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fair Play | - | Large tree limbs were downed by thunderstorm wind gusts. |
| September 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fair Play | - | Thunderstorm winds damaged outbuildings in Arcola, and downed trees to the northeast of Arcola in southern Cedar County in the Fair Play areas. |
| May 2018 | Hail | Fair Play | - | no account filed |
| March 2017 | Hail | Fair Play | - | no account filed |
| April 2013 | Hail | Fair Play | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Fair Play | - | no account filed |
| April 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fair Play | - | no account filed |
| March 2006 | Hail | Fair Play | - | no account filed |
| April 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fair Play | - | no account filed |
| March 2005 | Hail | Fair Play | - | no account filed |
| March 2004 | Hail | Fair Play | - | no account filed |
| July 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fair Play | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | Fair Play | - | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fair Play | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Fair Play | - | no account filed |
| April 1996 | Hail | Fair Play | - | no account filed |
| July 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fair Play | - | 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.
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 Fair Play | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q957644 | 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 735611. 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.





