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Bellwood, Nebraska

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1899 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Savannah Township. It lies in ZIP code area 68624. The Survey maps it on the David City West quadrangle. 407 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,444 feet above sea level.

Bellwood within Butler County

On record in Bellwood

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

Bellwood fell from 435 to 407 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
2010435
2020407-28 (-6%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 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

14 since 2007

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 14 fires within 5 miles of Bellwood between 2007 and 2019, burning about 34 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
Equipment and vehicle use5
Debris and open burning4
Smoking3
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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
4 July 2007Smokingunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
27 May 2018Debris and open burning2.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
17 May 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
27 April 2018Equipment and vehicle use5.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
23 April 2017Debris and open burning1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
13 April 2016Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
5 March 2011Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
26 March 2019Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named

Every fire recorded in Butler County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Bellwood: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Pb 3 Pit and PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Butler County

Storms near this place

43 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bellwood in 43 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 20 hail, 16 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 2 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
June 2010Flash FloodBellwood$10,000Rainfall of 2 inches or so in about an hour caused flash flooding across various county roads and portions of Highways 15 and 64 in northwest Butler county. The rain fell on saturated soils due to heavy rain that fell earlier in the week. Damage from this flooding consisted mainly of gravel washed off county roads and some crop damage.
May 2018FloodBellwood$1,000Between 1 1/2 to 2 inches of heavy rain fell across northern Butler County.This caused water in a low lying area near the the Platte River to overflow across County Road 44 between County Roads E and F.
October 2000Thunderstorm WindBellwood$1,000Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at over 60 mph blew some power lines down by Bellwood and blew the roof off of a garage.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindBellwood-Law enforcement report of several trees uprooted and branches broken. Wind speed estimated at 60-65 mph along the outflow boundary of a thunderstorm.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindBellwood-The Butler County Emergency Manager reported several center pivots overturned and multiple power poles snapped from the intersection of U.S. Highway 80 and State Highway 64 East towards Bellwood. A damage survey also found an empty grain bin that had been blown off its foundation and smashed against the side of a farm building.
June 2022HailBellwood-Trained spotter reported 1 inch hail.
June 2022HailBellwood-Public reported 1.75 inch hail.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindBellwood-Utility Company reported large limbs down on power lines causing power outages.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindBellwood-Large tree limbs and power lines down throughout Bellwood.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindBellwood-An estimated 60 mph wind gust was reported near Bellwood.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindBellwood-Law enforcement reported that trees and power poles were knocked down by the wind.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindBellwood-Wind gusts were estimated to 60 mph.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindBellwood-Thunderstorm wind gusts were estimated at around 60 mph in the Bellwood area.
May 2011Thunderstorm WindBellwood-Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at around 70 mph broke power poles and did tree damage along the Platte River north of Bellwood.
June 2011HailBellwood-Hail up to golf ball-size was accompanied by thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 mph.
June 2010Heavy RainBellwood-Rainfall of a little over 3 inches was reported near town.
February 2007FloodBellwood-An ice jam on the Platte River caused some flooding around some cabins near the Brandeburgh Lakes area and closed a few county roads northwest of Bellwood for a while this day. After the jam broke downstream, the water went down fairly quickly.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindBellwood-Thunderstorm winds did damage to the roof and south wall of a trailer house.
March 2006Tornado (F0)Bellwood-A tornado was reported by emergency management and observed by the public west of Bellwood. The tornado did some roof and tree damage and destroyed a farm outbuilding west of Bellwood. This same Thunderstorm cell produced a brief tornado southeast of Richland a few minutes later. It could not be confirmed that the tornado remained on the ground from west of Bellwood to southeast of Richland, however.
May 2006Thunderstorm WindBellwood-A trained spotter estimated thunderstorm winds gusted to 60 mph near town.
May 2005HailBellwood-Accompanied by 40 to 50 mph winds.
July 2003Thunderstorm WindBellwood-Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 mph or more downed many trees in town.
August 2003Thunderstorm WindBellwood-Emergency management estimated wind gusts from thunderstorms at around 60 mph north of Bellwood.
May 2000Thunderstorm WindBellwood-Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at 70 mph by fire and rescue squad in Bellwood.
June 2000Thunderstorm WindBellwood-Thunderstorm winds estimated at between 60 and 70 mph downed trees in the Bellwood area.
May 1999HailBellwood-Covered highway 81 south of Platte River 6 inches deep.
June 1999Flash FloodBellwood-Flash flooding closed county roads between Bellwood and Linwood.
June 2018HailBellwood-no account filed
May 2018HailBellwood-no account filed
June 2017HailBellwood-no account filed
July 2014HailBellwood-no account filed
June 2013HailBellwood-no account filed
April 2011HailBellwood-no account filed
August 2007HailBellwood-no account filed
September 2003HailBellwood-no account filed
May 2003HailBellwood-no account filed
June 2002HailBellwood-no account filed
July 2002HailBellwood-no account filed
July 2002HailBellwood-no account filed
June 2001HailBellwood-no account filed
June 2001HailBellwood-no account filed
July 1996HailBellwood-no account filed
July 1996Funnel CloudBellwood-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Butler 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
David City8.5 miles11
Octavia9.5 miles11
Rising City10.4 miles11
Millerton10.9 miles11
Edholm11.1 miles11
Garrison12.0 miles11
Abie15.4 miles11
Bruno15.4 miles11

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 BellwoodAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1990298The 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 827308. 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.