BlockBefore

Alpena, South Dakota

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1898 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Alpena town. It lies in ZIP code area 57312. The Survey maps it on the Alpena quadrangle. 212 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,319 feet above sea level.

Alpena within Jerauld County

On record in Alpena

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

Alpena fell from 286 to 212 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
2010286
2020212-74 (-26%)

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

9 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 9 fires within 5 miles of Alpena between 1999 and 2018, burning about 31 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 1 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
Natural2
Debris and open burning2
Arson/incendiarism1
Smoking1
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
28 July 2006Debris and open burning3.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppressionnot named
16 July 2006Natural2.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppressionnot named
16 July 2006Natural5.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppressionnot named
15 July 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined10 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppressionnot named
14 July 2006Debris and open burning5.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppressionnot named
25 April 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionKOPFMANN
2 March 2008Smokingunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppressionnot named
5 November 1999Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresHuron Volunteer Fire Dept.RANDY BAUDER

Every fire recorded in Jerauld County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Alpena: 3 past producers. None of them still produces. 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
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Jerauld County

Storms near this place

22 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Alpena in 22 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 12 hail, 10 thunderstorm wind. 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 2000Thunderstorm WindAlpena$50,000Thunderstorm winds caused widespread tree damage, with numerous limbs and small trees down.
June 1994HailAlpena$50,000The hail caused crop damaged and dented vehicles.
August 2000Thunderstorm WindAlpena$10,000Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage and blew down power lines.
October 2021Thunderstorm WindAlpena$5,000Thunderstorm winds damaged siding on a house. Property damage costs are a rough estimate.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindAlpena-Winds blew out the doors and side from an attached garage and significantly damaged an outbuilding.
August 2022Thunderstorm WindAlpena-A 12-inch diameter tree toppled across the road by thunderstorm winds.
October 2021Thunderstorm WindAlpena-Wind gusts estimated from damage to small tree limbs.
August 2004Thunderstorm WindAlpena-Thunderstorm winds damaged trees and blew down power lines, resulting in a power outage.
August 2000HailAlpena-Large hail, driven by strong winds, stripped crops in the Alpena area.
October 2021HailAlpena-no account filed
July 2015HailAlpena-no account filed
July 2015HailAlpena-no account filed
June 2006HailAlpena-no account filed
June 2005HailAlpena-no account filed
June 2005HailAlpena-no account filed
September 2005HailAlpena-no account filed
July 2005Thunderstorm WindAlpena-no account filed
June 2004Thunderstorm WindAlpena-no account filed
June 2004Thunderstorm WindAlpena-no account filed
August 2002HailAlpena-no account filed
August 2000HailAlpena-no account filed
September 1997HailAlpena-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Jerauld 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
Lane8.3 miles9
Wessington Springs12.9 miles7
Crow Lake25.1 miles11
Spring Valley Colony29.3 miles7

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 AlpenaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2718237The 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 1253631. 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.