Florence County, Wisconsin

30 topographic sheets cover 12 settlements here, and 5 properties are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Research this county

From the record

5 National Register listings published here.

Sources: the National Register database, National Park Service

Wisconsin within the United States

Florence County within Wisconsin

What the record shows

116 topographic sheet readings cover the county's settlements.
5 properties here are on the National Register of Historic Places: 5 buildings.
The Geographic Names Information System records 12 populated places in this county; 12 are covered by at least one topographic sheet.

Places on the National Register

Every property in this county listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with the year it was listed and the federal nomination document.

Property	Type	Listed	Reference
Fern School	building	1981	81000043
Florence County Courthouse and Jail	building	1985	85003029
Florence Town Hall	building	2014	14000169
David M. and Lottie Fulmer House	building	2014	14000196
Robert B. and Estelle J. Webb House	building	2014	14000197

Wildfire, 1992 to 2020

320 fires

Every wildfire the federal occurrence database records inside this county: 320 of them, burning about 294 acres. 8 started naturally and 14 were recorded as arson. Each settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it.

Reported cause	Fires
Debris and open burning	120
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	59
Equipment and vehicle use	37
Power generation/transmission/distribution	25
Recreation and ceremony	24
Arson/incendiarism	14
Smoking	10
Fireworks	10
Misuse of fire by a minor	8
Natural	8
Other causes	5

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
4 April 1998	Debris and open burning	28 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	not named
12 March 2016	Debris and open burning	21 acres	Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest	RED DEER
29 April 2018	Debris and open burning	19 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	ANDERSON ROAD FIRE
28 April 1996	Debris and open burning	12 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	not named
7 April 2009	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	12 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	FRIBERG FIRE
6 May 2010	Natural	10 acres	Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest	HALSEY SOUTH
23 April 1993	Smoking	10 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	not named
26 April 1997	Debris and open burning	9.5 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	not named

Every settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it - see the settlement index below.

Storms, 1957 to 2025

60 of 82 shown

The NOAA Storm Events Database holds 82 reports for this county, causing no deaths, no injuries and about $2,083,500 in recorded property damage. Each settlement page carries the reports that name it.

Kind of event	Reports
Thunderstorm Wind	47
Hail	26
Tornado	5
Flash Flood	3
Lightning	1

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
July 1999	Flash Flood	Florence	$1,580,000	no account filed
July 2013	Lightning	Hematite	$162,000	Lightning stuck a gas line, causing a fire that destroyed the adjacent house.
April 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Florence	$120,000	no account filed
July 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Long Lake	$102,000	no account filed
September 2002	Tornado (F1)	Spread Eagle	$50,000	no account filed
June 1957	Tornado (F1)	not stated	$25,000	no account filed
April 2011	Tornado (EF0)	Long Lake	$15,000	The tornado that formed near Argonne (Forest County) entered southwest Florence County at 7:46 pm CDT (1846 CST). Several large tree branches were broken (DI 28, DOD 2) before the tornado dissipated at 7:51 pm CDT (1851 CST). The average path width of the tornado in Florence County was 75 yards.
August 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Commonwealth	$15,000	no account filed
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Tipler	$5,000	no account filed
August 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Florence	$5,000	no account filed
September 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Pentoga	$2,000	Thunderstorm winds downed a couple of trees on Highway 70 between Tipler and Florence. Torrential rainfall accompanied the highs winds.
July 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Florence	$1,500	no account filed
July 2010	Flash Flood	Ridgetop	$1,000	Runoff from very heavy rainfall washed out secondary roads and culverts along Highway 70 near Florence.
July 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Spread Eagle	-	Thunderstorm winds downed trees and power lines near Aurora. The time of this report is an estimate based on radar data.
July 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Spread Eagle	-	Thunderstorm winds downed trees and power lines down in Aurora.
May 2024	Hail	Ridgetop	-	Penny size hail fell near Commonwealth. The time of this report is an estimate based on radar data.
July 2023	Tornado (EF0)	Long Lake	-	A brief tornado formed at 7:22 pm CDT in the Hiles area in Forest County and continued southeast before dissipating at 7:26 pm CDT. Total path length is estimated to be 1.68 miles long, with a width of 90 yards. Peak wind estimated to be around 76 mph.
May 2022	Hail	Commonwealth	-	Lime size hail fell in Commonwealth.
June 2021	Hail	Florence	-	Penny size hail fell in Florence.
July 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Tipler	-	Thunderstorm winds downed trees and power lines in Tipler and across Florence County. The time of this event is an estimate based on radar data.
August 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Long Lake	-	Thunderstorm winds downed trees and power poles in Long Lake. The time of this report is an estimate based on radar data.
August 2020	Tornado (EF1)	Tipler	-	The tornado that formed at 9:12 PM CDT in extreme northeast Forest County crossed the county line at 9:18 PM CDT. The tornado continued east, producing a path of tree damage (DI 27,28, DOD 3,4) in a remote forested area in extreme northwest Florence County, before crossing the Brule River into Upper Michigan at 9:20 PM CDT. Peak winds were estimated at 105 mph.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Fence	-	Thunderstorm winds downed a few trees in Fence.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Spread Eagle	-	Thunderstorm winds downed a couple of aspen trees in Spread Eagle.
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Ridgetop	-	Thunderstorm winds downed trees and power lines west of Florence.
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Ridgetop	-	Thunderstorm winds downed trees and power lines west of Florence.
July 2017	Hail	Spread Eagle	-	Nickel size hail fell north of Spread Eagle.
July 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Spread Eagle	-	Thunderstorm winds tore dead branches from trees near Spread Eagle.
July 2017	Hail	Long Lake	-	Half dollar size hail fell near Long Lake and winds from the storms downed a few trees.
May 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Tipler	-	Thunderstorm winds downed trees and power lines west of Florence, starting fires at many locations.
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Tipler	-	Thunderstorm winds downed numerous trees and power lines in the western part of Florence County, in the Tipler, Long Lake and Fern areas. The time of this event was estimated based on radar data.
August 2015	Hail	Hematite	-	Quarter size hail fell southeast of Florence.
September 2015	Hail	Pentoga	-	Quarter size hail was found on the ground east of Tipler about thirty minutes after a severe thunderstorm passed through that area.
August 2013	Hail	Tipler	-	The public reported 1.00 inch diameter hail at Lost Lake or approximately 4 miles East-Southeast of the town of Tipler.
May 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Fence	-	Thunderstorm winds downed trees and power lines in Fence.
May 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Ridgetop	-	Thunderstorm winds downed trees and power lines southwest of Florence.
July 2012	Hail	Fence	-	Thunderstorms produced quarter size hail north of Fence.
September 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Long Lake	-	Several trees were downed by thunderstorm winds near 60 mph just east of Halsey Lake.
June 2011	Hail	Florence	-	A thunderstorm produced penny size hail that covered the ground in Florence.
June 2011	Hail	Ridgetop	-	A severe thunderstorm produced strong winds and golf ball size hail which whitened the ground west of Florence.
July 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Spread Eagle	-	Several trees were knocked down along County Highway B near Aurora.
July 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Florence	-	Thunderstorm winds downed trees on State Highway 70 and County Road N.
July 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Hematite	-	Thunderstorm winds downed trees near Highway N south of Florence.
July 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Tipler	-	Thunderstorms winds downed trees at the intersection of State Highways 70 and 139 near Tipler. Time of report is estimated.
May 2008	Hail	Tipler	-	Large hail fell near Tipler but there was little rain or wind with it.
May 2008	Hail	Spread Eagle	-	A spotter observed nickel size hail that stripped leaves and small twigs from trees. The hail was two inches deep.
May 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Tipler	-	Several trees were reported down 10 miles southeast of the town of Tipler.
June 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Tipler	-	Trees and power lines down.
June 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Fence	-	Trees and power lines down.
June 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Florence	-	Trees down at State Highway 70.
August 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Florence	-	Thunderstorm winds downed several trees near Florence.
May 2008	Hail	Long Lake	-	no account filed
June 2007	Hail	Spread Eagle	-	no account filed
June 2007	Hail	Spread Eagle	-	no account filed
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Tipler	-	no account filed
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Tipler	-	no account filed
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Spread Eagle	-	no account filed
April 2004	Hail	Florence	-	no account filed
August 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Tipler	-	no account filed
July 2003	Hail	Long Lake	-	no account filed

Mines and quarries

51 recorded

The Survey's mineral resources record lists 51 workings inside this county. 7 still produce and 44 are closed or unrecorded. Each settlement page carries the workings within five miles of it.

Commodity	Workings
Sand and Gravel, Construction	40
Iron	8
Copper, Iron	1
Molybdenum	1
Copper	1

The least common of them first, because a county's hundredth gravel pit says nothing its first ten did not.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Fence Prospect	Copper	Unknown	1985
Lasalle Falls	Copper, Iron	Unknown	Argentite, Chalcocite, Pyrite
Payant-Chrissman	Molybdenum	Occurrence	Molybdenite
Commonwealth Group	Iron	Past Producer	1880, 1916
Commonwealth Group	Iron	Past Producer	1880
Ernst Mine	Iron	Past Producer	1849, 1914, 1929
Ernst Mine	Iron	Past Producer	1912, 1914
Florence Mine	Iron	Past Producer	1849, 1880, 1931
Florence Mine	Iron	Past Producer	1880
Larson Exploration	Iron	Prospect
Larson Exploration Prospect	Iron	Occurrence	1849, 1948
Blooms Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Commonwealth Gravel Deposit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Occurrence
Commonwealth Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Curtis Carlson Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
D. Crombie Sand Deposit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Occurrence
Dave Roach Gravel Deposit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Occurrence
Fisher Lake Gravel Deposit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Occurrence
Florence County Gravel Deposit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Occurrence
Forest County Hwy Dept.Gayhart	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Forest County Pits Mine Pits	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Francis Hazewood Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Gayhart Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Gus Dunkel Sand Deposit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Occurrence
Jackie Foster, Inc. Pits	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Karl Taylor Sand Deposit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Occurrence
Keys Lake Sand Deposit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Occurrence
Lauterman Lake Sand Deposit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Occurrence
Leslie Larson Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Menominee River Gravel Deposit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Occurrence
Mud Lake Sand Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Nick Stricker Gravel Deposit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Occurrence
Olson Lake Sand Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Pine River Dam Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Pine River Gravel Deposit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Occurrence
Pine River Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Public Park Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Raymond Miller Gravel Deposit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Occurrence
Raymond Miller Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Roger Krans Gravel Deposit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Occurrence
Sea-Lion Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Seven Mile Creek Sand Deposit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Occurrence
Seven Mile Lake Sand Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Sylvia Lindstrom Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Town of Florence	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Township of Fern Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Township of Fern Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Truman Smith Gravel Deposit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Occurrence
V. C. Freeman Gravel Deposti	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Occurrence
Wakefield Greek Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Wisconsin Power Company Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Occurrence

Every populated place in the county

Named 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.

Aurora

Aurora town · 54151 · On Lindstrom Creek · Iron Mountain quadrangle

11 sheets, 1939 to 1991
Commonwealth

Commonwealth town · 54121 · Florence East quadrangle

10 sheets, 1939 to 1991
Fence

Fence town · 54120 · Armstrong Creek quadrangle

9 sheets, 1939 to 1991
Fern

Fern town · 54121 · On Woods Creek · Florence SW quadrangle

8 sheets, 1941 to 1991
Florence

Florence town · 54121 · Florence West quadrangle

9 sheets, 1941 to 1991
Hematite

Florence town · 54121 · Florence East quadrangle

10 sheets, 1939 to 1991
Long Lake

Long Lake town · 54542 · Long Lake quadrangle

10 sheets, 1939 to 1991
Pulp

Florence town · 54121 · On Spread Eagle Outlet · Iron Mountain quadrangle

11 sheets, 1939 to 1991
Ridgetop

Florence town · 54121 · Florence West quadrangle

9 sheets, 1941 to 1991
Spread Eagle

Florence town · 54121 · Near Bass Island · Florence East quadrangle

10 sheets, 1939 to 1991
Tipler

Tipler town · 54542 · On Johnson Creek · Tipler quadrangle

10 sheets, 1939 to 1991
Tyran

Florence town · 54121 · On Montagne Creek · Florence West quadrangle

9 sheets, 1941 to 1991

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.