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.
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
Alpena Bathhouse and Swimming Poollisted 2000
Population over time
2 figuresAlpena 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 286 | |
| 2020 | 212 | -74 (-26%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 9 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1898 USGS Huron quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1953 USGS Huron quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1954 USGS Huron quadrangle1:250000
- 1973 USGS Alpena quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Huron quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
9 since 1999Regional 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/undetermined | 2 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 July 2006 | Debris and open burning | 3.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 16 July 2006 | Natural | 2.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 16 July 2006 | Natural | 5.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 15 July 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 14 July 2006 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 25 April 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | KOPFMANN |
| 2 March 2008 | Smoking | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 5 November 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | Huron Volunteer Fire Dept. | RANDY BAUDER |
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
22 since 1994Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alpena | $50,000 | Thunderstorm winds caused widespread tree damage, with numerous limbs and small trees down. |
| June 1994 | Hail | Alpena | $50,000 | The hail caused crop damaged and dented vehicles. |
| August 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alpena | $10,000 | Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage and blew down power lines. |
| October 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alpena | $5,000 | Thunderstorm winds damaged siding on a house. Property damage costs are a rough estimate. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alpena | - | Winds blew out the doors and side from an attached garage and significantly damaged an outbuilding. |
| August 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alpena | - | A 12-inch diameter tree toppled across the road by thunderstorm winds. |
| October 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alpena | - | Wind gusts estimated from damage to small tree limbs. |
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alpena | - | Thunderstorm winds damaged trees and blew down power lines, resulting in a power outage. |
| August 2000 | Hail | Alpena | - | Large hail, driven by strong winds, stripped crops in the Alpena area. |
| October 2021 | Hail | Alpena | - | no account filed |
| July 2015 | Hail | Alpena | - | no account filed |
| July 2015 | Hail | Alpena | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Alpena | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | Alpena | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | Alpena | - | no account filed |
| September 2005 | Hail | Alpena | - | no account filed |
| July 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alpena | - | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alpena | - | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alpena | - | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Hail | Alpena | - | no account filed |
| August 2000 | Hail | Alpena | - | no account filed |
| September 1997 | Hail | Alpena | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lane | 8.3 miles | 9 | |
| Wessington Springs | 12.9 miles | 7 | |
| Crow Lake | 25.1 miles | 11 | |
| Spring Valley Colony | 29.3 miles | 7 |
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 Alpena | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2718237 | The 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.




