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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.

West Alton within St. Charles County

Population over time

2 figures

West 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.

YearPeople Change
2010522
2020359-163 (-31%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

13 surveys from 27 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.

Fires near this place

2 since 2008

Regional 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/undetermined2

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
21 May 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry ResourcesHATFIELD
21 May 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry ResourcesALLIANCE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in St. Charles County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 16 shown

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Alton Brick Co.Clay Shale PitClayPast Producer
Alton DredgeSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
St. Charles & Traveler DredgesSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Twin River Loading DockSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Bemmey QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Emmerick QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Fort Bellefontaine QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Limestone ProspectStone, Crushed/BrokenOccurrence
Mississippi Lime and Material QuarrStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Reliance QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in St. Charles County

Storms near this place

5 since 1998

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
March 2025Tornado (EF2)West Alton$222,000The 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 2019FloodWest 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 2013Flash FloodWest 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 2007Flash FloodWest 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 1998Thunderstorm WindWest Alton-no account filed

Every storm recorded in St. Charles 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
Kic-ka-poo Village (historical)1.1 miles27
Machens6.4 miles22
Whitecorn7.5 miles22
Portage Des Sioux7.6 miles22
Black Walnut7.9 miles26
Wilkie9.5 miles23
Marais Croche9.6 miles25
Orchard Farm11.9 miles23

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 AltonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q960205The 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.