BlockFrom the record
4 National Register listings published here.
Sources: the National Register database, National Park Service
Rock County, Nebraska
20 topographic sheets cover 7 settlements here, and 4 properties are on the National Register of Historic Places.
Research this county
What the record shows
- 67 topographic sheet readings cover the county's settlements.
- 4 properties here are on the National Register of Historic Places: 3 buildings and 1 structure.
- The Geographic Names Information System records 7 populated places in this county; 7 are covered by at least one topographic sheet.
Places on the National Register
4Every property in this county listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with the year it was listed and the federal nomination document.
| Photograph | Property | Type | Listed | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ash Creek Ranch Barn | building | 2025 | 100011613 | |
 | Bassett Lodge and Range Cafe | building | 2006 | 06000640 |
 | Carns State Aid Bridge | structure | 1992 | 92000722 |
 | Rock County Courthouse | building | 1990 | 90000968 |
Wildfire, 1995 to 2020
21 firesEvery wildfire the federal occurrence database records inside this county: 21 of them, burning about 7,324 acres. 3 started naturally and none was recorded as arson. Each settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 7 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5 |
| Natural | 3 |
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
The five largest, by the area the report gives. None of them was recorded as arson.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 February 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,200 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 4 November 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 35 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 2 May 2011 | Natural | 30 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 31 August 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 22 March 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 11 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 22 March 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 29 April 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 29 February 2020 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
Every settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it - see the settlement index below.
Storms, 1956 to 2025
60 of 361 shownThe NOAA Storm Events Database holds 361 reports for this county, causing no deaths, no injuries and about $3,772,850 in recorded property damage. Each settlement page carries the reports that name it.
| Kind of event | Reports |
|---|---|
| Hail | 265 |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 61 |
| Tornado | 18 |
| Lightning | 4 |
| Funnel Cloud | 4 |
| Flood | 4 |
| Flash Flood | 3 |
| Heavy Rain | 2 |
The most serious of them, by death, then injury, then recorded damage. The accounts are quoted exactly as the forecast office filed them.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 1999 | Tornado (F1) | Bassett | $750,000 | Storm chasers and Law Enforcement observed a tornado that destroyed two center pivot irrigation systems,power poles, and a large grain bin facility. |
| March 2019 | Flood | Newport | $250,000 | Widespread flooding reported in Newport. |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bassett | $250,000 | Wind damage reported from 7 miles north of Bassett to just east southeast of Newport. Damage included grain bins destroyed, irrigation center pivots overturned and downed power lines. |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bassett | $250,000 | An intermittent line of wind damage was observed along and north of Highway 20 in Rock County. The wind damage began about 5 miles northeast of Bassett and continued into Holt County to 5 miles northeast of Newport. Peak wind gusts of 118 mph were estimated, where wooden power poles were snapped 3.5 miles east of Newport. Wind damage included uprooted trees, downed power lines, two outbuildings and a machine shop destroyed, and over 50 center pivot irrigation systems overturned. |
| July 2001 | Flash Flood | Newport | $250,000 | Thunderstorms which slowed and began back building across parts of Northern Rock county resulted in flash flooding. Culverts and bridges were washed out as storms began to train with torrential rainfall over a 3.5 hour period. Rainfall up to 8 inches was indicated on the KLNX WSR-88D 3 hour precipitation graphic. The Department of Roads reported a close 7.7 inches of rainfall as of 1630 pm CST. The excessive rains resulted in increased runoff with over 2 feet of water flowing over roadways 7 miles north of Newport, on Highway 137, by 1608 PM CST and water over Highway 20, 8 miles west of Bassett, by 1720 pm CST as thunderstorms redeveloped to the west. |
| June 1992 | Tornado (F1) | not stated | $250,000 | no account filed |
| October 1956 | Tornado (F4) | not stated | $250,000 | no account filed |
| June 2009 | Tornado (EF2) | Newport | $200,000 | A tornado touched down north of Newport and overturned 2 center pivot irrigation systems, moved a 5000 bushel gran bin approximately 75 yards, snapped a large electrical transmission line pole, snapped a smaller wooden power pole, broke off numerous tree limbs, damaged the roof of an outbuilding, and picked up and spun around an empty grain truck traveling on Highway 20. The truck was heading west and was picked up and deposited in the south ditch. A storm chaser on Highway 20 also witnessed the tornado. |
| June 2010 | Flood | Newport | $120,000 | Thunderstorms with prolonged heavy rain caused widespread flooding across southeastern Rock County. Highway 20 near Newport and Highway 183 south of Bassett were under water. Numerous rural roads were severely damaged from flooding. |
| May 2011 | Hail | Rose | $100,000 | Fire Chief reported large hail fell for 20 minutes in Sybrant. The large hail broke out several vehicle windows and four homes had windows and siding broken or damaged. |
| July 2000 | Hail | Bassett | $100,000 | An 80 foot radio tower was blown down by thunderstorm winds. |
| July 1999 | Flash Flood | Countywide | $100,000 | Roads and culverts were washed out all over the county. |
| June 2014 | Hail | Newport | $100,000 | no account filed |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bassett | $90,000 | Thunderstorm winds blew over two 29,000 gallon fiberglass holding tanks and two 30,000 gallon steel holding tanks at the Rock County Agronomy Service. The fiberglass tanks fell on a pickup truck and caused damage to other nearby tanks. |
| June 1999 | Tornado (F0) | Bassett | $75,000 | Tornado chasers observed a small tornado that damaged three center pivot irrigation units and two small empty grain bins before going back up into the parent cloud. |
| June 2008 | Tornado (EF2) | Rose | $50,000 | This multiple vortex tornado formed near Rose and tracked northeast for about 20 miles before exiting Rock County about 13 miles south-southeast of Newport at 1500 CST. In Rock County, the tornado broke power poles, shifted a house off its foundation a few inches, destroyed outbuildings, overturned a couple of center pivot irrigation systems, and snapped trees. The tornado maintained the EF2 intensity through Rock and Holt County. The average path width in Rock County was 30 yards. |
| June 1998 | Hail | Rose | $50,000 | Damage to vehicles and buildings |
| August 2009 | Lightning | Bassett | $46,000 | Lightning struck and burned 48 large round hay bales. |
| June 2007 | Hail | Bassett | $45,000 | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | Bassett | $40,000 | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Hail | Bassett | $40,000 | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | Rose | $35,000 | Golfball hail for 20 minutes along northern shore of Pony Lake. |
| June 2007 | Hail | Newport | $35,000 | no account filed |
| March 2019 | Flood | Bassett | $25,000 | The NDOR web site reported water over Highway 183 in several places between Bassett and the Junction of Highway 96 and Highway 183 south of Rose. |
| June 2007 | Hail | Bassett | $25,000 | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Hail | Bassett | $20,000 | no account filed |
| June 2009 | Hail | Newport | $15,000 | The hail was accompanied by strong winds and stripped leaves off the trees. |
| July 2009 | Hail | Bassett | $15,000 | Law enforcement reported tennis ball size hail. The hail damaged vehicles. |
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Newport | $15,000 | Outflow from thunderstorms broke off large tree branches and destroyed an old barn. |
| September 2008 | Hail | Bassett | $15,000 | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | Rose | $15,000 | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Hail | Bassett | $15,000 | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Hail | Rose | $12,000 | no account filed |
| September 2008 | Hail | Bassett | $10,000 | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Hail | Rose | $10,000 | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Hail | Newport | $10,000 | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Hail | Newport | $10,000 | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Hail | Newport | $10,000 | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Hail | Rose | $6,000 | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Rose | $5,000 | Windows broken out of a home. |
| June 2011 | Hail | Newport | $5,000 | Hail up to Tennis ball sized lasted for 20 minutes. |
| June 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bassett | $5,000 | Thunderstorm wind broke 10 to 12 inch tree branches off the trees. |
| July 2003 | Hail | Bassett | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rose | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Rose | $3,000 | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Bassett | $3,000 | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Bassett | $3,000 | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Rose | $3,000 | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Hail | Newport | $3,000 | no account filed |
| July 1979 | Tornado (F2) | not stated | $2,500 | no account filed |
| June 1959 | Tornado | not stated | $2,500 | no account filed |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bassett | $2,000 | Thunderstorm wind gusts, estimated at 60 MPH, led to tree damage at this location. |
| August 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rose | $2,000 | A two to three foot diameter tree uprooted at this location. |
| May 2008 | Hail | Rose | $2,000 | Softball size hail was observed at the Rose church. Windows were knocked out of one vehicle. |
| September 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rose | $2,000 | 4 inch tree limbs down. |
| August 2002 | Hail | Bassett | $2,000 | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Hail | Bassett | $2,000 | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Hail | Bassett | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Hail | Rose | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Newport | $1,000 | Numerous tree branches down and gutters damaged on house. |
Every populated place in the county
7Named settlements recorded in the Geographic Names Information System, each with the topographic sheets covering it. Villages, hamlets and abandoned places alike. Each is shown with the nearest named watercourse or landform and the survey quadrangle it falls on.
Provenance
- Topographic sheets. USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, county index, measured from the bulk metadata.
- Fire insurance maps. Library of Congress Sanborn collection, faceted to this county.
- Photographs. Each place queried individually against the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs search.
- 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.