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Altoona, Wisconsin

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1934 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Altoona City. It lies in ZIP code area 54720. It stands on Fivemile Creek. The Survey maps it on the Eau Claire East quadrangle. 8,293 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 896 feet above sea level.

Altoona within Eau Claire County

Population over time

2 figures

Altoona grew from 6,706 to 8,293 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
20106,706
20208,293+1,587 (+24%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 15 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

107 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 107 fires within 5 miles of Altoona between 1992 and 2020, burning about 141 acres in total. None started naturally. 8 were 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/undetermined35
Debris and open burning26
Equipment and vehicle use13
Arson/incendiarism8
Fireworks6
Recreation and ceremony5
Smoking3
Railroad operations and maintenance3
Misuse of fire by a minor3
Other causes3
Power generation/transmission/distribution2

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 September 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources3070
20 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesSEVEN MILE LANDFILL FIRE
17 September 1997Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
14 September 2008Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
10 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
10 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
1 September 2012Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesSEYMOUR NIGHT FIRE
1 September 1997Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Eau Claire County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 12 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 12 workings within 5 miles of Altoona: 5 producers, 5 unknowns, 2 past producers. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Agnes Lisker Shale QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Old Town Road Sandstone QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Bloomer PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Brunswick PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Chippewa County OperationsSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Eau Claire PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Eau Claire PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Kopp PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Litchfield PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Shawtown Plant No. 1 PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Eau Claire County

Storms near this place

21 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Altoona in 21 storm reports between 1999 and 2025: 14 hail, 6 thunderstorm wind, 1 heavy rain. 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
May 2022Thunderstorm WindAltoona$5,000A large tree branch blew off a tree and landed on a car.
June 2016Thunderstorm WindAltoona$5,000A tree fell on a house and vehicle east of Eau Claire, near Altoona.
May 2025HailAltoona-Two rounds of hail fell on the south side of Eau Claire near Golf Road. The largest report of 2.75 inches came from the WQOW studio around 4:18 PM.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindAltoona-A large tree fell onto a powerline in Altoona.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindAltoona-A large tree was blown down east of Eau Claire.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindAltoona-A few trees were blown down southwest of Altoona, near Highway 93, and Golf Road.
August 2009Heavy RainAltoona-Torrential rainfall and ponding of water in streets were reported by the local media around Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
July 2002Thunderstorm WindAltoona-Several trees down.
June 2021HailAltoona-no account filed
June 2021HailAltoona-no account filed
June 2021HailAltoona-no account filed
June 2021HailAltoona-no account filed
August 2020HailAltoona-no account filed
June 2018HailAltoona-no account filed
August 2018HailAltoona-no account filed
September 2016HailAltoona-no account filed
July 2014HailAltoona-no account filed
April 2009HailAltoona-no account filed
April 2009HailAltoona-no account filed
April 2002HailAltoona-no account filed
June 1999HailAltoona-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Eau Claire 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
Seymour1.6 miles15
Terrace Hill1.8 miles15
Eau Claire3.0 miles15
Putnam Heights3.0 miles15
Shawtown5.0 miles14
Union6.2 miles14
Mount Hope Corners8.2 miles11
Cleghorn8.4 miles12

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 AltoonaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q444199The 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 1560807. 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.