BlockBefore

Crofton, Nebraska

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Crofton City. It lies in ZIP code area 68730. The Survey maps it on the Crofton quadrangle. 756 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,421 feet above sea level.

Crofton within Knox County

On record in Crofton

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 2 records

Population over time

2 figures

Crofton grew from 726 to 756 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
2010726
2020756+30 (+4%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 9 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

17 since 2009

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 17 fires within 5 miles of Crofton between 2009 and 2018, burning about 1,282 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 burning7
Equipment and vehicle use6
Smoking3
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
6 September 2012Equipment and vehicle use19 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
18 September 2012Debris and open burning1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
5 July 2012Smoking1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
25 July 2018Smoking1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
22 June 2012Smoking1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
11 June 2012Debris and open burning1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
3 April 2011Power generation/transmission/distribution1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
29 April 2015Debris and open burning1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named

Every fire recorded in Knox County

Storms near this place

60 of 68 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Crofton in 68 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 49 hail, 13 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 2 tornado. The reports record 3 injuries. 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
May 2007Tornado (EF2)Crofton3 hurt, $1,000,000A grain bin was damaged as this tornado initially touched down along with two or three large power line support structures northwest of Crofton. The tornado tracked toward Lewis and Clark Lake taking the roof off of a house and destroying a garage. The tornado also caused other roof damage as it continued tracking toward Lewis and Clark Lake. When it reached the lake it caused significant damage to a recreation area and marina. The tornado also caused 3 minor injuries when it apparently lifted a large SUV off the ground and carried it a hundred feet or so before setting it down with the windows blown in. Numerous campers and boats were flipped or missing at the recreation area, along with vehicle damage. About $1 million in damage was estimated to have occurred at the recreation area. Many trees were also toppled. This tornado and others in Knox county downed 30 to 40 power poles. A Storage building in the area was also severely damaged. This tornado started as one tornado to the southwest was lifting and a weaker one to the northeast was forming. There were several reports by the public of multiple tornadoes in the area, either from the three tornadoes mentioned here, or from multiple vortexes within this tornado. The tornado crossed Lewis and Clark Lake and did f1 damage in South Dakota.
June 2000HailCrofton$1,500,000A hail storm began northwest of Crofton Nebraska and cut a half mile wide swath of damage down to Hartington in Cedar county. Hail, which at times was baseball size, was driven by 50 mph winds causing extensive damage to cars, windows, siding, roofs and crops in the area. Insurance agents stated that between 1 and 2 million dollars in damage was sustained from around Crofton through Hartington. The worst damage was reported at the junction of Highways 81 and 12, 5 miles east of Crofton. Around the junction of Higways 12 and 81 local agronomists estimated that defoliation of corn was in the 85 to 90 percent range with 35 percent of the crop dead.
July 1996HailCrofton$25,000no account filed
September 2010Flash FloodCrofton$10,000Rainfall of over 7 inches was reported in less than 24 hours in the Crofton area. The second round of heavy rain to hit the area during the evening of the 22nd produced flash flooding of streets and a park in Crofton. Two sections of the fence around a baseball field were taken out by flood waters.
June 2025HailCrofton-Report of hail, mostly dime sized but a few quarter sized hail stones mixed in.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindCrofton-Public reported tree damage.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindCrofton-Public reported a tree and large limbs down on a golf course.
July 2014Thunderstorm WindCrofton-The gust was measured near Weigland Marina at Lewis and Clark State Recreational Area.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindCrofton-Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at close to 70 mph downed a large tree onto Highway 12 near Crofton.
June 2010HailCrofton-The hail occurred with thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 mph.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindCrofton-A storm spotter estimated thunderstorm winds of 60 mph winds occurred with dime-size hail west of Crofton.
September 2010HailCrofton-Hail up to a little over 4 inches in diameter fell in the Crofton area. The hail lasted at least 15 minutes but was mostly smaller than golf ball-size.
September 2010Heavy RainCrofton-A storm total of over 7 inches of rain was reported in the Crofton area. Besides causing flash flooding of a local creek in the area, most basements in the area were flooded by the heavy rain.
July 2009Heavy RainCrofton-Rainfall of 1 to 2 inches fell for the second morning in a row in the Crofton area. Due to saturated ground, the rainfall this morning caused some minor flooding around culverts in and around the Crofton area causing ponding of water in a park and softball complex in town.
May 2008HailCrofton-The storm also produced 50 mph winds.
May 2008HailCrofton-The ground was covered with hail, some up to quarter size.
May 2007Tornado (EF0)Crofton-This weak tornado apparently touched down just as one tornado to the southwest was lifting and another stronger one, also to the southwest, was just forming along with this one. The 3 tornadoes were caught on video by the public. This tornado did some tree damage and flipped one camper before lifting over Lewis and Clark Lake.
May 2007HailCrofton-Reported in the Crofton area by the cooperative observer.
June 2006HailCrofton-The hail caused some crop damage in the area.
June 2006Thunderstorm WindCrofton-Thunderstorm winds knocked down many large branches and several trees in the Crofton area.
June 2006Thunderstorm WindCrofton-Thunderstorm winds estimated at over 60 mph downed large tree branches and overturned a camper at a local campground.
June 2006Thunderstorm WindCrofton-Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at 60 mph blew half the roof off of a machine shed.
June 2006HailCrofton-One inch to 1.5 inch hail covered the ground.
June 2005HailCrofton-The hail lasted 5 minutes.
June 2005HailCrofton-Nickel size hail fell for around 15 minutes from north of Crofton into town.
June 2005Flash FloodCrofton-Rainfall of 1 to 3 inches fell in an hour or two across parts of Knox county. The rainfall caused flash flooding across Highway 121 that ran 4 inches deep.
May 2004HailCrofton-Hail up to dime size covered the ground north of Crofton.
August 2004HailCrofton-Hail up to 1 inch in diameter was reported from Crofton to 4 miles north of town.
June 2003HailCrofton-Heavy rain was also reported with the hail with 2.5 inches falling in 60 minutes.
August 2002HailCrofton-Reported near Gavins Point Dam.
August 2002HailCrofton-Hail up to golfball size fell for around 15 minutes in the Crofton area.
July 2002Thunderstorm WindCrofton-Thunderstorm wind gusts did extensive damage to some rental storage units north of town on highway 121.
July 2001Thunderstorm WindCrofton-A Ham radio operator estimated a thunderstorm wind gust of 65 mph which snapped several large trees in town.
June 2000HailCrofton-See narrative above.
July 1997HailCrofton-Large hail destroyed a corn crop.
April 1994Thunderstorm WindCrofton-Power lines were downed and a house was twisted off of its foundation near Crofton.
August 2016HailCrofton-no account filed
July 2014HailCrofton-no account filed
June 2010HailCrofton-no account filed
June 2010HailCrofton-no account filed
July 2009HailCrofton-no account filed
September 2008HailCrofton-no account filed
May 2008HailCrofton-no account filed
August 2007HailCrofton-no account filed
May 2007HailCrofton-no account filed
June 2006HailCrofton-no account filed
June 2006HailCrofton-no account filed
June 2005HailCrofton-no account filed
May 2004HailCrofton-no account filed
May 2004HailCrofton-no account filed
May 2004HailCrofton-no account filed
May 2004HailCrofton-no account filed
July 2004HailCrofton-no account filed
August 2002HailCrofton-no account filed
July 2002HailCrofton-no account filed
May 2001HailCrofton-no account filed
August 2000HailCrofton-no account filed
May 1999HailCrofton-no account filed
June 1999HailCrofton-no account filed
September 1998HailCrofton-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Knox 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
Bloomfield12.0 miles10
Lindy13.0 miles10
Tewsville13.1 miles9
Wausa16.0 miles9
Santee20.4 miles9
Midland21.1 miles9
Center21.8 miles10
Sparta25.8 miles10

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 CroftonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q959117The 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 828463. 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.