BlockBefore

Nelson, Missouri

18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1983. It stands in Arrow Rock Township. It lies in ZIP code area 65347. It stands on Salt Fork. The Survey maps it on the Nelson quadrangle. 152 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 673 feet above sea level.

Nelson within Saline County

Population over time

2 figures

Nelson fell from 192 to 152 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
2010192
2020152-40 (-21%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 18 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.

In the county-history sources

6,926 words on this township

History of Saline County, Missouri, Carefully Written and Compiled from the Most Authentic Official and Private Sources ... with a Condensed History of Missouri; the State Constitution; a Military Record of Its Volunteers in Either Army of the Great Civil War ... Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men .., published 1881 names this settlement in its chapter on Arrow Rock Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Schools. - For many years, owing to the scarcity of people, and their great distance from each other, our educational facilities were exceedingly limited. Our first school was taught by a widow lady, Mrs. Lavina Howe, just over in Cooper county, in her dwelling house. This was in 1834. Our next was taught by Rev. Thornton Rucker, a Baptist minister of sacred memory, in a small cabin built for the purpose in a grove, three-quarters of a mile northeast of our village location. He taught two wmters - 1838 and 1839. Our next school, the following winter, was taught by Rev. Wm. B. Wear, a Cumberland Presbyterian piinister, also of sacred memory, in his own house, who settled and then lived on the splendid farm now owned by S. R. Cockrell, and the widow of the late R. V. Harvey. The next two winters, by way of accommodation, the school went back into the edge of Cooper county, and was taught by another minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Rev. A. McCorkle. Next winter, by compromise, it was taught in a deserted cabin, on the farm now owned by L. M. Nelson, midway between the extremes of the settlement. Thus our school was portable until the year 1846, when a log cabin, of diminutive dimensions and humble pretensions, was reared near the site of our rather commodious house, which supplanted it in 1857 or '58. This last is located in West Ridge prairie, and the upper story owned and occupied by the Odd Fellows.

Passage source: History of Saline County, Missouri, Carefully Written and Compiled from the Most Authentic Official and Private Sources ... with a Condensed History of Missouri; the State Constitution; a Military Record of Its Volunteers in Either Army of the Great Civil War ... Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men .., published 1881.

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 Arrow Rock Township.

Fires near this place

15 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 15 fires within 5 miles of Nelson between 2006 and 2019, burning about 15 acres in total. 1 started naturally. None 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/undetermined5
Debris and open burning5
Recreation and ceremony2
Smoking1
Equipment and vehicle use1
Natural1

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
2 September 2018Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMissouri Department of Conservation177773-02729-09022018-0230
25 August 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMissouri Department of Conservation177774-02729-08252018-0247
23 August 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMissouri Department of Conservation177775-02729-08232018-0820
11 July 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMissouri Department of Conservation177776-02729-07112018-1050
22 April 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMissouri Department of Conservation179318-02729-04222019-1445
21 April 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreMissouri Department of Conservation179320-02729-04212019-0835
20 April 2018Debris and open burning2.0 acresMissouri Department of Conservation177777-02729-04202018-1215
1 April 2019Smokingunder an acreMissouri Department of Conservation179319-02729-04012019-1520

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Saline County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 11 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of Nelson: 9 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Barium-Barite, Lead, Lead, Barium-Barite. 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
Blackeagle Mine & PlantBarium-BariteProducer
Marmaduke DiggingsBarium-Barite, Lead, ZincPast Producer
Scott MineLeadPast Producer
Mccauley-WidelBarium-Barite, LeadProducer1834, 1836
Poindexter MineBarium-Barite, LeadPast Producer
Blackwater QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Colyer Brothers QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Unknown - LsStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Unknown - LsStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Unknown - LsStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Saline County

Storms near this place

10 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Nelson in 10 storm reports between 2000 and 2025: 5 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2025Thunderstorm WindNelson-Social media photo of downed trees in Nelson.
March 2023HailNelson-A supercell produced 1.25 hail in Nelson in southeastern Saline County.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindNelson-Thunderstorm wind gusts were estimated up to 60 mph.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindNelson-Widespread tree damage was reported, with numerous trees reported down. Thunderstorm wind gusts were estimated up to 60 mph.
March 2006Tornado (F0)Nelson-Satellite tornado developed south of the 2028-2046 CST tornado, then merged with that tornado 2045 CST near the Missouri River. Eyewitness accounts described this merger as visually similar to the 3/13/90 Hesston, Kansas tornado.
June 2000Thunderstorm WindNelson-A large tree was down, blocking Highway H northwest of Nelson.
May 2008HailNelson-no account filed
May 2003Thunderstorm WindNelson-no account filed
April 2001HailNelson-no account filed
May 2000HailNelson-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Saline 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
Ridge Prairie3.3 miles18
Napton4.8 miles18
Pipertown (historical)5.6 miles18
Hardeman6.6 miles18
Arrow Rock6.9 miles17
Wilton Springs7.2 miles18
Wanamaker (historical)9.1 miles18
Blue Lick9.5 miles18

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 NelsonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q961857The 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 723162. 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.