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West Salem, Wisconsin

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1927 and the latest in 1993. It stands in Hamilton town. It lies in ZIP code area 54669. It stands on Neshonoc Creek. The Survey maps it on the West Salem quadrangle. 5,277 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 741 feet above sea level.

West Salem within La Crosse County

On record in West Salem

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 2 records

Population over time

2 figures

West Salem grew from 4,799 to 5,277 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
20104,799
20205,277+478 (+10%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 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.

Fires near this place

11 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 11 fires within 5 miles of West Salem between 1992 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined9
Equipment and vehicle use2

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
14 August 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources81420
18 June 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources2020053
17 June 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources2020052
14 June 2020Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources2002887
1 May 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources2020029
28 April 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources2018035
27 April 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources2018034
24 April 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources42418

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in La Crosse County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of West Salem: 2 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: 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
Klos QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Ronskog QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in La Crosse County

Storms near this place

48 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names West Salem in 48 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 22 thunderstorm wind, 21 hail, 3 heavy rain, 1 tornado. The reports record 14 injuries. 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 1998Thunderstorm WindWest Salem13 hurt, $20,000Circus tent collapsed at fairgrounds. 500 people were in tent. 13 injured.
May 1998Tornado (F0)West Salem1 hurt, $40,000no account filed
June 2007HailWest Salem$100,000Large hail damaged cars and homes.
June 2007HailWest Salem$100,000no account filed
May 2017Thunderstorm WindWest Salem$70,000A path of straight line wind damage was found from the east of Lake Neshonoc to northwest of Bangor. Approximately 250 trees were damaged or uprooted, a barn was destroyed, another barn lost part of its roof and there was minor damage to a house and garage.
July 2023HailWest Salem$65,000Public reported tennis ball sized hail and broken windows in West Salem.
July 2023HailWest Salem$50,000Law enforcement reported baseball hail near West Salem.
July 2023HailWest Salem$50,000Public reported tea cup sized hail near West Salem via picture.
June 2007HailWest Salem$50,000no account filed
July 2023Thunderstorm WindWest Salem$40,000Public reported several fallen trees near West Salem.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindWest Salem$35,000Public reported damage to large trees near West Salem.
July 2023HailWest Salem$35,000Public reported hen egg sized hail near West Salem.
July 2023HailWest Salem$35,000Public reported tennis ball sized hail in West Salem.
July 1998Thunderstorm WindWest Salem$14,000no account filed
August 2016Thunderstorm WindWest Salem$10,000Numerous trees were blown down in West Salem along with power lines. A tree was split in half with the section that came down blocking a part of the street. Nearly 1,500 residences were without power after the storm.
June 2019Thunderstorm WindWest Salem$5,000In West Salem, thunderstorm winds caused two trees to lean over onto power lines and blew down a large tree limb that was partially rotted.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindWest Salem$3,500Tree down on a car in veterns park.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindWest Salem$3,000Trees were blown down and a large tree was split in half just west of West Salem.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindWest Salem$3,000A 2 foot diameter tree was blown down onto a garage in West Salem.
June 2007HailWest Salem$2,000no account filed
June 2019Thunderstorm WindWest Salem$1,000A large tree branch and several smaller branches were blown down in West Salem.
July 2003Thunderstorm WindWest Salem$1,000no account filed
July 2002Thunderstorm WindWest Salem$1,000no account filed
June 2001HailWest Salem$1,000no account filed
September 2007Thunderstorm WindWest Salem$500no account filed
June 2008Thunderstorm WindWest Salem$400A large tree was blown down on Garland Street in West Salem.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindWest Salem$250Thunderstorm winds blew several tree branches down taking out about a third of the tree. The diameter of the branches was measured at 10 inches.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindWest Salem-A trained spotter reported tree damage along Highway 16.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindWest Salem-An NWS employee reported fallen trees on Lake Neshonoc.
May 2022HailWest Salem-Quarter sized hail was reported west of West Salem.
June 2021FloodWest Salem-Locally heavy rain caused street flooding to occur in West Salem.
June 2021Heavy RainWest Salem-In West Salem, 2.17 inches of rain fell.
June 2020HailWest Salem-Quarter sized hail fell just west of West Salem.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindWest Salem-A ten foot trailer was blown off of State Highway 16 north of West Salem.
May 2013Heavy RainWest Salem-In West Salem, a total of 2.69 inches of rain fell.
May 2013Heavy RainWest Salem-In West Salem, 1.79 inches of rain fell in 45 minutes.
July 2013HailWest Salem-Half dollar sized hail fell just west of West Salem.
July 2013HailWest Salem-Hail up to 2 inches in diameter fell in West Salem.
September 2011Thunderstorm WindWest Salem-An estimated wind gust of 60 miles per hour occurred in West Salem.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindWest Salem-A National Weather Service employee estimated a wind gust of 52 knots and measured 1.20 inches of rain.
August 2020HailWest Salem-no account filed
August 2020HailWest Salem-no account filed
September 2014HailWest Salem-no account filed
April 2011HailWest Salem-no account filed
June 2010HailWest Salem-no account filed
June 2007Thunderstorm WindWest Salem-no account filed
June 2001HailWest Salem-no account filed
June 2001HailWest Salem-no account filed

Every storm recorded in La Crosse 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
Barre Mills4.3 miles16
Bangor4.8 miles15
Burns6.4 miles15
Holiday Heights6.8 miles18
Medary7.4 miles18
Cold Springs7.8 miles18
Saint Joseph8.1 miles16
Onalaska8.2 miles17

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 SalemAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2402603The 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 1576552. 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.