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Lyons, Wisconsin

19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1980. It stands in Lyons town. It lies in ZIP code area 53105. It stands on Ore Creek. The Survey maps it on the Burlington quadrangle. 932 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 801 feet above sea level.

Lyons within Walworth County

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 19 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.

In the county-history sources

10,179 words on this township

History of Walworth County, Wisconsin, Containing an Account of Its Settlement, Growth, Development and Resources...its War Record, Biographical Sketches, Portraits of Prominent Men and Early Settlers; the Whole Preceded by a History of Wisconsin...and an Abstract of Its Laws and Constitution.., published 1882 names this settlement in its chapter on Lyons Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Lyons, formerly called Hudson, was organized under its present name by act of Legislature January 23, 1844. From the organization of Walworth County in 1838, to that date, this township .had been known in the Governmental survey as Town 2, Range 18 east, and comprised the northeast quarter of the town of Geneva. As now organized, Lyons contains thirty-six square miles, minus five acres in a square form, in the southwest corner of the northwest quarter of Section 31, which belongs to the village of Geneva.

Passage source: History of Walworth County, Wisconsin, Containing an Account of Its Settlement, Growth, Development and Resources...its War Record, Biographical Sketches, Portraits of Prominent Men and Early Settlers; the Whole Preceded by a History of Wisconsin...and an Abstract of Its Laws and Constitution.., published 1882.

Lyons is more broken and varied in its surface than the other towns of the county, a range of hills running through the center from northeast to southwest, which, in some places, break into bold and precipitous bluffs. Originally, about one-half the surface consisted of oak openings, and over a thousand acres was timbered with oak of different varieties. The soil is mostly of a clay texture, with sand and gravel in the hilly portions. Rocks seldom pierce the surface of the country, though there is a good limestone ledge on Section 16.

Passage source: History of Walworth County, Wisconsin, Containing an Account of Its Settlement, Growth, Development and Resources...its War Record, Biographical Sketches, Portraits of Prominent Men and Early Settlers; the Whole Preceded by a History of Wisconsin...and an Abstract of Its Laws and Constitution.., published 1882.

The principal stream is White River, the outlet of Geneva Lake, which, entering the town opposite Section 80, pursues a tortuous course through Sections 29, 20, 16, 15, 10, 11 and 2, and passes into Spring Prairie from Section 1, running in a general northeasterly direction from the southwest to the northeast corner of the town. White River has several tributaries. Ore Creek waters the northwest portion of the town, and empties into White River on Section 10, a little south of Lyons Village, and a creek forming the outlet of Ryan's Lake runs through nearly the entire eastern tier of sections, and joins White River on Section 1.

Passage source: History of Walworth County, Wisconsin, Containing an Account of Its Settlement, Growth, Development and Resources...its War Record, Biographical Sketches, Portraits of Prominent Men and Early Settlers; the Whole Preceded by a History of Wisconsin...and an Abstract of Its Laws and Constitution.., published 1882.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Lyons Town - it names this place 41 more 41 times.

Fires near this place

24 since 2018

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 24 fires within 5 miles of Lyons between 2018 and 2020, burning about 44 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 3 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
Debris and open burning13
Missing data/not specified/undetermined4
Arson/incendiarism3
Natural2
Recreation and ceremony1
Smoking1

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
5 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources164
26 August 2018Natural1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources217
1 August 2018Debris and open burning1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources191
9 June 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources717
1 June 2018Debris and open burning1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources517
2 May 2018Naturalunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources132
7 April 2018Debris and open burning20 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources75
30 April 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources128

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Walworth County

Mines and quarries near this place

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Lyons: 3 producers, 2 past producers. 3 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
Limestone Quarry #3Stone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Burlington PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
J W Peters and Sons Inc Pit No 1Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Payne and Dolan PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Ryan PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Walworth County

Storms near this place

5 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lyons in 5 storm reports between 2000 and 2011: 3 hail, 1 lightning, 1 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
June 2005LightningLyons$15,000Lightning struck a house, setting it on fire.
May 2011Thunderstorm WindLyons-A severe thunderstorm produced damaging wind gusts that downed trees in the town of Lyons, including a large maple tree that was estimated to be 235 years old, the oldest tree in Walworth County.
August 2006HailLyons-no account filed
October 2001HailLyons-no account filed
May 2000HailLyons-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Walworth 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
Springfield2.9 miles19
Spring Prairie3.7 miles19
North Bloomfield5.3 miles18
Bowers5.3 miles19
Lake Geneva5.7 miles19
Como7.1 miles19
Honey Creek7.2 miles19
Shady Side (historical)7.3 miles19

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 LyonsAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q6709772The 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 1568851. 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.