Parnell, Missouri
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1940 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Independence Township. It lies in ZIP code area 64475. It stands on Brushy Creek. The Survey maps it on the Parnell East quadrangle. 135 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,030 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresParnell fell from 191 to 135 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 | 191 | |
| 2020 | 135 | -56 (-29%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 11 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.
- 1940 USGS Parnell quadrangle1:62500
- 1943 USGS Parnell quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Nebraska City quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Nebraska City quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Nebraska City quadrangle1:250000
- 1984 USGS Parnell East quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Maryville quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
In the county-history sources
4,780 words on this townshipThe History of Nodaway County, Missouri, Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, Etc., Biographical Sketches of Its Citizens, published 1882 names this settlement in its chapter on Independence Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
When Mr. Anderson first settled in Independence, wheaten flour was not used, and even corn meal was esteemed a luxury. The settlers got their grinding done at Hughes' Mill, on the One Hundred and Two River. Money was extremely scarce. Mr. Anderson and Jacob Grindstaff, in 1845, assisted the United States surveying party in their work for a short time, the former carrying the chain and the latter the flag. In this way they earned three or four dollars apiece. With this money they both made a trip to a mill north of St. Joseph, where they each purchased a sack of corn meal, which they brought home on horseback. On their return they swam both the Platte and One Hundred and Two Rivers. Usually they made their corn meal by hollowing out the top of a stump, in which as a mortar, they placed the corn, and with an iron wedge inserted in a sweep, or beam fastened to a pivot, they pounded the kernels of corn into meal. Few bears were ever seen in the county. One was killed by David Spoonemare on the Platte River, near Caleb Conway's. This was in 1846. Deer, prairie chickens, and quails abounded everywhere. The early settlers enjoyed lives of health and comfort, if not of luxury. Little attention was paid to agriculture, and most of their time was consumed in the pleasures of hunting.
Passage source: The History of Nodaway County, Missouri, Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, Etc., Biographical Sketches of Its Citizens, published 1882.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Fires near this place
2 since 2002Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Parnell between 2002 and 2013, burning about 51 acres in total. None 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 March 2013 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | not named |
| 13 February 2002 | Debris and open burning | 50 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | not named |
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 Parnell: 3 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unk | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Gooden Mill | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Gooden Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Unk | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unk | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
11 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Parnell in 11 storm reports between 2000 and 2017: 7 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 funnel cloud. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Parnell | $4,000 | Several utility poles damaged in Parnell. |
| June 2014 | Funnel Cloud | Parnell | - | There were several reports of funnel clouds in the area. |
| September 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Parnell | - | Six to ten inch tree limbs were reported down. Thunderstorm wind gusts were estimated up to 60 mph. |
| April 2001 | Tornado (F0) | Parnell | - | A storm spotter observed a tornado 3 miles northwest of Parnell that remained on the ground for 4 minutes, moving north. No damage was reported. |
| June 2017 | Hail | Parnell | - | no account filed |
| March 2017 | Hail | Parnell | - | no account filed |
| May 2013 | Hail | Parnell | - | no account filed |
| August 2009 | Hail | Parnell | - | no account filed |
| July 2008 | Hail | Parnell | - | no account filed |
| April 2001 | Hail | Parnell | - | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Hail | Parnell | - | 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 Parnell | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q957110 | 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 724051. 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.






