BlockBefore

Pekin, North Dakota

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1930 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Pekin City. It lies in ZIP code area 58361. The Survey maps it on the Pekin quadrangle. 75 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,476 feet above sea level.

Pekin within Nelson County

On record in Pekin

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Pekin grew from 70 to 75 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
201070
202075+5 (+7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 11 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 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Pekin between 2015 and 2016, burning about 30 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 burning1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
5 May 2016Power generation/transmission/distribution10 acresNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceJASON STENBERG FARM
6 December 2015Debris and open burning20 acresNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceBRUCE KLEFSTAD

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Nelson County

Storms near this place

43 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Pekin in 43 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 23 thunderstorm wind, 15 hail, 2 tornado, 2 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2001Tornado (F3)Pekin$200,000A tornado hit the home of the Nelson county sheriff, who was out of town at the time. The tornado tore the roof off the house and destroyed the barn. A piece of farm machinery was thrown through the bedroom wall and a tractor was hurled 75 yards. The sheriff's squad car was crushed.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindPekin$60,000One steel grain bin was popped off its foundation and rolled, while a second one was tipped over.
July 2011Flash FloodPekin$1,000Flooding occurred along a farm access road and several sections of farmland in eastern Osage and western Hamlin townships. Ditches flowing into Silver Creek overflowed.
August 2002Thunderstorm WindPekin$200Tree limbs were blown down.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindPekin-NDAWN station 1NNE Pekin reported a 62 mph wind gust at the 10 meter sensor. Mesonet station 325765 Pekin ND NDAWN.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindPekin-NDAWN site 2 northeast of Pekin reports a 59 MPH wind gust.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindPekin-An NDAWN station measured a 10 meter wind gust to 58 mph.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindPekin-Peak wind gust was measured at an NDAWN station at the 10 meter height. Several large trees were snapped or uprooted in the nearby community of Pekin. Empty steel grain bins were also partially caved in near Pekin.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindPekin-Peak wind report at 10 meters via NDAWN.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindPekin-Peak gust of 65 mph reported via NDAWN.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindPekin-Peak wind gust at 10 meters, reported via NDAWN.
August 2021HailPekin-Received a public report of pea to quarter-sized hail.
August 2021HailPekin-Hail was reported between Tolna and Pekin, ranging from nickel to quarter-sized.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindPekin-The wind gust was measured by a NDAWN mesonet sensor.
July 2019Thunderstorm WindPekin-The wind gust was measured by a NDAWN mesonet station.
July 2019Thunderstorm WindPekin-Cars were blown off highway 15 near Pekin.
July 2018Thunderstorm WindPekin-Widespread tree damage was noted along highway 15 through central Osago Township.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindPekin-The peak wind was measured by the NDAWN station near Pekin.
June 2016Thunderstorm WindPekin-The wind gust was measured by a NDAWN mesonet sensor.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindPekin-Trees and power poles were snapped along highway 1 and 16th street northeast.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindPekin-A pole shed door was blown in and several large pine and cottonwood trees were snapped nearby.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindPekin-Large cottonwood trees were blown down.
July 2016Funnel CloudPekin-A funnel cloud was seen hanging down halfway between the cloud base and the ground.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindPekin-The wind gust was measured by a NDAWN mesonet sensor located near Pekin.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindPekin-Large tree branches were broken down around Pekin. Some crops were also flattened by the strong winds.
June 2005HailPekin-Dime to quarter-sized hail was reported.
July 2005Thunderstorm WindPekin-Several large branches were blown down along the Nelson/Griggs county line. Pea sized hail was also reported.
July 2005Thunderstorm WindPekin-Large branches were blown down.
June 2002Flash FloodPekin-Water was reported to be crossing highway 1.
July 2001Tornado (F0)Pekin-A brief touchdown was reported.
August 2006HailPekin-no account filed
August 2006HailPekin-no account filed
August 2006HailPekin-no account filed
June 2005HailPekin-no account filed
March 2004HailPekin-no account filed
June 2003HailPekin-no account filed
June 2003HailPekin-no account filed
June 2003HailPekin-no account filed
July 2001HailPekin-no account filed
August 2001Thunderstorm WindPekin-no account filed
June 2000HailPekin-no account filed
July 2000HailPekin-no account filed
June 1994HailPekin-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Nelson 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
Tolna6.4 miles11
Harrisburg (historical)6.5 miles11
McVille8.2 miles10
Wamduska (historical)9.9 miles11
Kloten14.4 miles8
Lakota17.4 miles8
Mapes17.4 miles8
Aneta19.6 miles8

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 PekinAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2443539The 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 1030658. 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.

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.