Wales, Wisconsin
23 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Wales Village. It lies in ZIP code area 53183. The Survey maps it on the Oconomowoc East quadrangle. 2,862 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,001 feet above sea level.
On record in Wales
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
- Statesan Historic Districtlisted 1988
Population over time
2 figuresWales grew from 2,549 to 2,862 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 | 2,549 | |
| 2020 | 2,862 | +313 (+12%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 23 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.
- 1892 USGS Oconomowoc quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1909 USGS Oconomowoc quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1957 USGS Madison quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1959 USGS Hartland quadrangle1:62500
- 1959 USGS Oconomowoc East quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1960 USGS Madison quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1984 USGS Oconomowoc quadrangle1:100000
- 1991 USGS Oconomowoc quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
13 since 2018Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 13 fires within 5 miles of Wales between 2018 and 2020, burning about 9 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 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/undetermined | 8 |
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 September 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 518 |
| 16 September 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 381 |
| 7 May 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 129 |
| 4 April 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 1800908 |
| 29 April 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 150 |
| 19 April 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 111 |
| 11 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 6.0 acres | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 120 |
| 4 March 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 1000074 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of Wales: 5 producers, 3 past producers, 2 unknowns. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Stone, Dimension. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genesee Quarry | Stone, Dimension | Past Producer | ||
| Perrens Quarry | Stone | Unknown | ||
| Bishop Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Dousman Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Evans Sand and Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Genesee Pit & Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| North Sawyer Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Pit Wolf Constr. | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Vulcan Dousman Pit 422 | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Waukesha Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown |
Storms near this place
10 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Wales in 10 storm reports between 1996 and 2024: 4 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 1 heavy rain, 1 flash flood. The reports record 1 death. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2008 | Flash Flood | Wales | 1 killed, $25,000 | Heavy rains led to flash flooding that generated water levels of 2 to 4 feet deep on many low-lying roads, especially near existing lakes. Several vehicles stalled in the deep water and were damaged. A 68-year-old man left a tavern around 2245 CST and drove into a flooded area. He attempted to walk/swim away from his vehicle and drowned. |
| October 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wales | $20,000 | no account filed |
| May 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wales | $3,000 | Many tree limbs down in Wales on multiple properties. |
| May 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wales | $3,000 | Several trees down. |
| August 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wales | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 2022 | Hail | Wales | - | no account filed |
| June 2022 | Hail | Wales | - | no account filed |
| September 2007 | Hail | Wales | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Heavy Rain | Wales | - | no account filed |
| March 2000 | Hail | Wales | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Genesee Depot | 2.6 miles | 23 | |
| Bethesda | 3.3 miles | 23 | |
| Waterville | 3.4 miles | 23 | |
| Genesee | 3.7 miles | 23 | |
| Delafield | 4.1 miles | 23 | |
| Ottawa | 4.3 miles | 23 | |
| Buena Vista | 4.4 miles | 22 | |
| Saylesville | 4.8 miles | 23 |
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 Wales | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3301358 | 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 1576156. 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.







