West Alton, Missouri
27 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1927 and the latest in 1998. It stands in Rivers Township. It lies in ZIP code area 63386. It lies near Littles Island. The Survey maps it on the Columbia Bottom quadrangle. 359 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 443 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresWest Alton fell from 522 to 359 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 | 522 | |
| 2020 | 359 | -163 (-31%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
13 surveys from 27 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.
- 1927 USGS Alton quadrangle1:62500
- 1934 USGS Alton quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1935 USGS Columbia Bottom quadrangle1:24000
- 1949 USGS Saint Louis quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS St. Louis quadrangle1:250000
- 1951 USGS Columbia Bottom quadrangle1:24000, 8 printings
- 1955 USGS Alton quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS St. Louis quadrangle1:250000
- 1963 USGS St. Louis quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1966 USGS St. Louis quadrangle1:250000
- 1985 USGS St Louis quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
- 1994 USGS Columbia Bottom quadrangle1:24000
- 1998 USGS Columbia Bottom quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
2 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of West Alton in 2008, burning about 2 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 May 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | HATFIELD |
| 21 May 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | ALLIANCE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 16 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 16 workings within 5 miles of West Alton: 13 past producers, 2 producers, 1 occurrence. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alton Brick Co.Clay Shale Pit | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Alton Dredge | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| St. Charles & Traveler Dredges | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Twin River Loading Dock | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Bemmey Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Emmerick Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Fort Bellefontaine Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Limestone Prospect | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence | ||
| Mississippi Lime and Material Quarr | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Reliance Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
5 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names West Alton in 5 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 2 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2025 | Tornado (EF2) | West Alton | $222,000 | The tornado continued into St. Charles County after exiting St. Louis County at approximately 9:43 PM. The tornado was nearly mile wide as it entered St. Charles County. Some of the most significant damage of the track occurred as the tornado passed through West Alton. Multiple homes sustained damage in the city. The tornado then passed into Madison County, IL. In St. Charles County the tornado had a path length of 4.22 miles with a maximum path width of 1125 yards. It was rated an EF2. |
| June 2019 | Flood | West Alton | - | The Mississippi River at Grafton and Alton, IL remained at it's highest levels between June 2nd and June 12th. A number of homes and businesses were flooded in West Alton, Portage Des Sioux, Orchard Farm and Kampville areas. Approximately 5 buildings were destroyed, about 500 sustained major damage, and around 1300 had minor damage. |
| June 2013 | Flash Flood | West Alton | - | A levee broke on the Mississippi River side of St. Charles County, near river mile 200. A mandatory evacuation of West Alton east of U.S. Highway 67 was put into affect. The water from the levee break flooded 12 homes and 6 businesses. No injuries were reported. |
| May 2007 | Flash Flood | West Alton | - | Heavy rain made Red School Road impassable in the West Alton area. Highway 94 was also reported flooded at several locations between West Alton and |Portage Des Sioux. |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Alton | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kic-ka-poo Village (historical) | 1.1 miles | 27 | |
| Machens | 6.4 miles | 22 | |
| Whitecorn | 7.5 miles | 22 | |
| Portage Des Sioux | 7.6 miles | 22 | |
| Black Walnut | 7.9 miles | 26 | |
| Wilkie | 9.5 miles | 23 | |
| Marais Croche | 9.6 miles | 25 | |
| Orchard Farm | 11.9 miles | 23 |
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 West Alton | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q960205 | 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 756890. 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.












