BlockWest Prairie, Wisconsin
18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1903 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Sterling town. It lies in ZIP code area 54665. It lies near Fortney Ridge. The Survey maps it on the Retreat quadrangle. It stands 1,204 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 18 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.
- 1903 USGS Waukon quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1929 USGS Ferryville quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1932 USGS Ferryville quadrangle1:62500
- 1958 USGS La Crosse quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS La Crosse quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS La Crosse quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Ferryville quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1976 USGS La Crosse quadrangle1:250000
- 1983 USGS Retreat quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Decorah quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
In the county-history sources
12,001 words on this townshipHistory of Vernon County, Wisconsin .., published 1884 names this settlement in its chapter on Sterling Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
Purdy postoffice was established in what was known by the early settlers as the "Purdy neighborhood," at a very early day. In 1884 Ole Gauper was postmaster. This office being at this time on the mail route from Viroqua to De Soto.
Passage source: History of Vernon County, Wisconsin .., published 1884.
At this point there is a blacksmith shop, which was started in 1876 by Joseph Brzazowsky. In 1881 George Little put a saw mill in operation and a little later a feed mill was added. Bad Ax creek furnished the power for this mill and in the spring of 1883 the dam was washed out by a flood and the foundation of the mill undermined, causing it to fall into the stream, where it was left to decay.
Passage source: History of Vernon County, Wisconsin .., published 1884.
Alvin M. Hayden was quite a prominent citizen of Sterling town for eighteen years. He was born in Somerset Co., .Maine, Oct. 2, 1810, and died in the town of Sterling Nov. 6, 1878. At the time of his death he was postmaster of West Prairie; had always taken an .active interest in town aflEairs; filled several offices of trust and for years was a justice of the peace. He married Clarissa Mitchell, also a native of Somerset Co., Maine. Five children were born to them, three of whom are now living - Lucy, William W. and John F. In 1855 Mr. Hayden emigrated with his family to Wisconsin and located in Monroe county. In 1858 they removed to Missouri, but returned within two years, and in 1860 settled in Sterling town. Mi. Hayden |)urchased land on section 6, town 11 north, of range 5 west. He improved this farm, erected a comfortable residence and here resided until his death. His widow still occuj)ies the ol<l homestead. The youngest son, John F., was born in Franklin Co., Maine, Jan. 13, 1851. He was united in marriage April 12, 1876, to Jane Cox, a native of Wisconsin. They have four children - Herbert F., Arthur M., Vesta May and an infant. In 1874 Mr. Hayden purchased a farm on section 6, of this town, where he has resided since his marriage.
Passage source: History of Vernon County, Wisconsin .., published 1884.
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 Sterling Town - it names this place 7 more 7 times.
Fires near this place
5 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of West Prairie between 1994 and 2020, burning about 5 acres in total. None started naturally. None 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 4 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 20143 |
| 24 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 4.0 acres | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 1800038 |
| 21 April 1994 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 3 March 2000 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 4 November 2004 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
7 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names West Prairie in 7 storm reports between 1998 and 2017: 4 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 1 hail. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Prairie | $30,000 | A barn was destroyed when it was blown off its foundation west of Liberty Pole. |
| May 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Prairie | $30,000 | Trees were blown down southwest of Viroqua. Some of these trees landed on houses. |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Prairie | $13,000 | A barn, silo, house and trees were damaged in Hornby Hollow. Corn was also flattened in many fields and an out building roof was blown off. Damage was from straight line winds estimated at 60-70 miles per hour. |
| June 2011 | Flash Flood | West Prairie | $5,000 | Slow moving thunderstorms produced locally heavy rain that caused some flash flooding. This flash flooding damaged roads and eroded culverts in several locations southwest of Viroqua north of State Highway 82. The flood waters washed two large hale bales onto State Highway 82 blocking traffic until there were removed. |
| May 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Prairie | $1,000 | no account filed |
| June 2011 | Flash Flood | West Prairie | - | Hornby Creek rose eight feet in a little over an hour stranding a Cub Scout Pack that was camping in Eagles Park. The scout leaders moved the Cub Scouts to higher ground and waited until the Wheatland Fire Department was able to rescue them around 6 a.m. |
| May 1998 | Hail | West Prairie | - | 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.
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 West Prairie | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7986293 | 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 1576547. 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.
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.