Sibley, Iowa facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sibley, Iowa
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Farmland in Sibley
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Location of Sibley, Iowa
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| Country |  United States |
| State |  Iowa |
| County | Osceola |
| Area | |
| • Total | 1.79 sq mi (4.63 km2) |
| • Land | 1.79 sq mi (4.63 km2) |
| • Water | 0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2) |
| Elevation | 1,516 ft (462 m) |
| Population
(2020)
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| • Total | 2,860 |
| • Density | 1,601.34/sq mi (618.35/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| ZIP code |
51249
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| Area code(s) | 712 |
| FIPS code | 19-72975 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0461598 |
Sibley is a city in Osceola County, Iowa, United States. The population was 2,860 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Osceola County. Hawkeye Point, the highest point in the State of Iowa, is also nearby.
Contents
History
Sibley had its start in the year 1872 by the construction of the Sioux City & St. Paul Railroad through that territory. It is the oldest town in Osceola County.
Sibley is named after Henry Hastings Sibley, a prominent general during the Dakota War of 1862, who eventually became the first governor of Minnesota. William L. Harding, governor of Iowa from 1917 to 1921, was born in Sibley in 1877.
In March 2018, the city of Sibley lost a lawsuit brought against it by the ACLU. Local resident Josh Harms had criticized local officials for failing to stop the "rancid dog food" smell coming from a local pork blood processing plant, which he believed would dissuade people from moving to the town. The city of Sibley threatened to sue him and instructed him not to speak to the media about the issue. The ACLU successfully argued that this violated Harms' First Amendment rights to free speech. An injunction was granted, preventing Sibley's officials from "directing Harms not to speak with reporters, threatening to bring a lawsuit, or actually bringing a lawsuit against" Harms.
In September 2018, the city of Sibley was featured in an Esquire article by Ryan Lizza on dairy farms in the region that employ undocumented immigrants. Dairy farmers and their workers expressed concern that they might be raided by ICE. Indeed, the fear of such a raid was so acute that "[o]ne dairy farmer said . . . that [Western Iowa Dairy Alliance] members have discussed forming a NATO-like pact that would treat a raid on one dairy as a raid on all of them." Lizza's reporting received national attention and has been discussed in regional and national news outlets such as Mother Jones, The Des Moines Register, The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Bloomberg, and Salon.
Geography
Sibley is located at 43°24′11″N 95°44′47″W / 43.40306°N 95.74639°W (43.403046, -95.746471).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.68 square miles (4.35 km2), all land.
Climate
| Climate data for Sibley, Iowa (1991−2020 normals, extremes 1893−present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 64 (18) |
68 (20) |
85 (29) |
94 (34) |
100 (38) |
102 (39) |
108 (42) |
106 (41) |
102 (39) |
93 (34) |
77 (25) |
66 (19) |
108 (42) |
| Mean maximum °F (°C) | 43.1 (6.2) |
49.2 (9.6) |
66.6 (19.2) |
80.0 (26.7) |
88.8 (31.6) |
92.4 (33.6) |
91.2 (32.9) |
90.4 (32.4) |
88.0 (31.1) |
82.4 (28.0) |
64.0 (17.8) |
46.9 (8.3) |
94.7 (34.8) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 23.1 (−4.9) |
28.0 (−2.2) |
41.0 (5.0) |
56.1 (13.4) |
68.8 (20.4) |
78.9 (26.1) |
82.1 (27.8) |
79.9 (26.6) |
73.8 (23.2) |
59.8 (15.4) |
42.6 (5.9) |
28.3 (−2.1) |
55.2 (12.9) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 13.9 (−10.1) |
18.4 (−7.6) |
30.8 (−0.7) |
44.3 (6.8) |
57.2 (14.0) |
67.8 (19.9) |
71.2 (21.8) |
68.9 (20.5) |
61.4 (16.3) |
47.7 (8.7) |
32.4 (0.2) |
19.5 (−6.9) |
44.5 (6.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 4.7 (−15.2) |
8.8 (−12.9) |
20.6 (−6.3) |
32.5 (0.3) |
45.5 (7.5) |
56.7 (13.7) |
60.3 (15.7) |
57.9 (14.4) |
49.1 (9.5) |
35.7 (2.1) |
22.3 (−5.4) |
10.7 (−11.8) |
33.7 (0.9) |
| Mean minimum °F (°C) | −18.0 (−27.8) |
−12.0 (−24.4) |
−2.8 (−19.3) |
16.3 (−8.7) |
30.3 (−0.9) |
44.6 (7.0) |
49.6 (9.8) |
46.9 (8.3) |
33.2 (0.7) |
20.3 (−6.5) |
3.0 (−16.1) |
−11.0 (−23.9) |
−21.0 (−29.4) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −40 (−40) |
−40 (−40) |
−30 (−34) |
0 (−18) |
15 (−9) |
30 (−1) |
37 (3) |
30 (−1) |
15 (−9) |
3 (−16) |
−20 (−29) |
−32 (−36) |
−40 (−40) |
| Average precipitation inches (mm) | 0.74 (19) |
0.84 (21) |
1.59 (40) |
3.25 (83) |
4.06 (103) |
4.88 (124) |
3.30 (84) |
3.58 (91) |
3.25 (83) |
2.31 (59) |
1.38 (35) |
1.05 (27) |
30.23 (768) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 8.1 (21) |
7.4 (19) |
7.0 (18) |
3.7 (9.4) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
1.1 (2.8) |
5.1 (13) |
9.1 (23) |
41.5 (105) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 6.0 | 5.3 | 6.3 | 9.5 | 12.9 | 11.6 | 8.9 | 8.8 | 8.4 | 7.8 | 5.1 | 5.9 | 96.5 |
| Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) | 5.5 | 4.5 | 3.1 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 4.9 | 22.4 |
| Source: NOAA | |||||||||||||
Demographics
| Historical population | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1880 | 301 | — | |
| 1890 | 1,090 | 262.1% | |
| 1900 | 1,289 | 18.3% | |
| 1910 | 1,330 | 3.2% | |
| 1920 | 1,803 | 35.6% | |
| 1930 | 1,870 | 3.7% | |
| 1940 | 2,356 | 26.0% | |
| 1950 | 2,559 | 8.6% | |
| 1960 | 2,852 | 11.4% | |
| 1970 | 2,749 | −3.6% | |
| 1980 | 3,051 | 11.0% | |
| 1990 | 2,815 | −7.7% | |
| 2000 | 2,796 | −0.7% | |
| 2010 | 2,798 | 0.1% | |
| 2020 | 2,860 | 2.2% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census | |||
2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 2,798 people, 1,153 households, and 724 families living in the city. The population density was 1,665.5 inhabitants per square mile (643.1/km2). There were 1,269 housing units at an average density of 755.4 per square mile (291.7/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 99.1% White, 0.3% African American, 0.3% Native American, 0.1% Asian, .2% from other races, and 0.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were .4% of the population.
There were 1,153 households, of which 3.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.3% were married couples living together, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.4% had a male householder with no wife present, and 37.2% were non-families. 33.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 95.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 23.33 and the average family size was 21.98.
The median age in the city was 44.9 years. 19.7% of residents were under the age of 18; 4.1% were between the ages of 20 and 24; 23.2% were from 25 to 44; 25.8% were from 45 to 64; and 24.1% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 40.2% male and 59.8% female.
Education
Sibley-Ocheyedan Community School District serves the community. The district formed on July 1, 1985 as a merger of the Sibley and Ocheyedan school districts.
Transportation
Highways
Iowa Highway 60 to Le Mars and Bigelow, Minnesota runs just outside city limits
Iowa Highway 9 to Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Lansing, Iowa near the Wisconsin border passes about 1.5 miles north of the city
Rail
The Union Pacific Worthington Subdivision passes through Sibley en route from the Minneapolis area to Sioux City. The line sees about 4 trains per day. On May 16, 2021, 47 train cars carrying asphalt, hydrochloric acid, and potassium hydroxide derailed and caught fire in Sibley, leading to the evacuation of about 80 people.
Notable people
- Dick Barber, an American long jumper, was born in Sibley and placed fifth in the 1932 Olympics
- Emory Collins, racing driver
- Robert W. Grow, the commander of the U.S. 6th Armored Division on the Western Front, fighting during the battles of Normandy and the Bulge
- William Lloyd Harding (1877–1934) the 22nd governor of Iowa 1917–1921
- Jeff Hayenga, actor
- Virginia Rich, food columnist and mystery writer
- Devin Nunes, Congressmen from California lived in Sibley when his family purchased a dairy farm in Sibley
- Barb Whitehead, golfer; winner of one LPGA Tour event and member of Iowa Golf Hall of Fame
- John Wills, member of the Iowa House of Representatives
See also
In Spanish: Sibley (Iowa) para niños
