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Magnolia, Wisconsin

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1981. It stands in Magnolia town. It lies in ZIP code area 53536. The Survey maps it on the Orfordville quadrangle. It stands 942 feet above sea level.

Magnolia within Rock County

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 17 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

6,300 words on this township

History of Rock County, and Transactions of the Rock County Agricultural Society and Mechanics' Institute, published 1856; The History of Rock County, Wisconsin; Its Early Settlement, Growth, Development, Resources, Etc., published 1879 names this settlement in its chapter on Magnolia Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

N. B. Howard, Esq., member of the Assembly from his district, in 1 854, resides in this town. Col. Ezra Miller, also a member of the Senate fronoi the I7th district, for the years 1853 and 1854, resides in this town, and has a very fine, well regulated farm.

Passage source: History of Rock County, and Transactions of the Rock County Agricultural Society and Mechanics' Institute, published 1856.

This town is situated in the northwest part of the county, adjoining Green! It was organized by act of the Territorial Legislature, approved February 2, 1846. By this act, it was made to include Township 3 north, of Range 10 east, its present limits.

Passage source: The History of Rock County, Wisconsin; Its Early Settlement, Growth, Development, Resources, Etc., published 1879.

The first settlements made in the town were in 1840, by J. N. Palmer, Joseph Prentice, Andrew Cotter, W. Adams, W. Fockler, Abram Fox, Jonathan Cook, Edmund Basy, Ambrose Moore, George McKenzie, Widow Hines and her son, William L. Hines, and Sanford P. Hammond.

Passage source: The History of Rock County, Wisconsin; Its Early Settlement, Growth, Development, Resources, Etc., published 1879.

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 Magnolia Town - it names this place 21 more 21 times.

Fires near this place

12 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 12 fires within 5 miles of Magnolia between 1999 and 2020, burning about 1,852 acres in total. None 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/undetermined7
Debris and open burning2
Arson/incendiarism1
Equipment and vehicle use1
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
24 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources201845
11 July 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources2019135
29 June 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources68
1 May 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources1805092
9 April 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources2019076
23 April 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources1804082
18 April 2004Smoking169 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
9 March 2018Arson/incendiarismunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources37

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Rock County

Mines and quarries near this place

8 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Magnolia: 5 past producers, 3 producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, 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
Brunsell PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Brunsell PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Egan PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Footville QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Hanke QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Larson QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Miller QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Wealti Limestone QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Rock County

Storms near this place

6 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Magnolia in 6 storm reports between 2008 and 2024: 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 1 hail. The reports record 1 injury. 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
February 2024Tornado (EF2)Magnolia1 hurt, $6,800,000Beginning section of the second tornado to ever occur in February in Wisconsin. Storm chaser/spotter/public videos show the tornado beginning around 5:39pm south of Evansville. The tornado intensified as it tracked to the east of Evansville where it impacted 30 primary residences (2 destroyed, 10 major impacts, 13 minor impacts, 5 affected). Numerous barns and outbuildings were destroyed along the path as it tracked to the northwest of Edgerton. The main EF-2 damage was confined to a stretch from east of Evansville to just southwest of the Yahara River. There was one person in a car that was hit by the tornado that had injuries serious enough to warrant transportation to the hospital, but they were deemed minor and released. Almost every person that was impacted by the tornado that the damage surveyors talked to said that they received the warning via Wireless Emergency Alert on their cell phone and then went to their shelter to gather more information via TV, radio, social media. County wide estimates of damage was at about $2.5 million.
March 2023Tornado (EF0)Magnolia$200,000Tornado started just south of Decatur Lake and tracked to the north through Decatur Lake Golf Course, causing some minor tree damage. Further to the north, a barn had roof damage with a number of sheets of metal lofted off of the building. Tornado tracked into a small portion of Rock County before dissapating.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindMagnolia$8,000Numerous large tree branches down along highway 213 between Evansville and Orfordville.
July 2017Thunderstorm WindMagnolia$5,000Several trees and branches down throughout the county.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindMagnolia-Powerful thunderstorm wind gusts toppled large trees.
July 2022HailMagnolia-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Rock 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
Cainville2.0 miles17
Spring Valley4.1 miles17
Evansville4.5 miles19
Fellows (historical)5.2 miles16
Footville5.2 miles16
Orfordville6.4 miles17
Union7.5 miles19
Leyden8.5 miles16

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 MagnoliaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q6731849The 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 1568896. 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.