Widener, Arkansas
14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1940 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Griggs Township. It lies in ZIP code area 72394. The Survey maps it on the Madison quadrangle. 212 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 210 feet above sea level.
Population over time
3 figuresWidener fell from 335 to 212 between 2000 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 335 | |
| 2010 | 273 | -62 (-19%) |
| 2020 | 212 | -61 (-22%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 14 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.
- 1940 USGS Whitmore quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1953 USGS Memphis quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1956 USGS Memphis quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Whitmore quadrangle1:62500
- 1960 USGS Madison quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS Whitmore quadrangle1:62500
- 1965 USGS Whitmore quadrangle1:62500
- 1986 USGS Memphis West quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
34 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 34 fires within 5 miles of Widener between 1997 and 2020, burning about 290 acres in total. None started naturally. 12 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 |
|---|---|
| Arson/incendiarism | 12 |
| Debris and open burning | 10 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 September 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 27 September 1999 | Debris and open burning | 3.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 18 August 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 11 August 2000 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 29 June 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 16 June 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 11 June 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 17 May 2001 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Widener: 2 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M Smith Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unk | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
5 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Widener in 5 storm reports between 1996 and 2023: 3 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Widener | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Widener | $3,000 | A powerline was knocked down in Widener. |
| June 2007 | Hail | Widener | $1,000 | no account filed |
| July 2005 | Hail | Widener | $50 | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Widener | $10 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Madison | 2.1 miles | 14 | |
| Burnt Cane | 2.6 miles | 14 | |
| Crow Creek | 2.8 miles | 14 | |
| Riverside | 3.7 miles | 20 | |
| Round Pond | 4.4 miles | 13 | |
| Burnt Cane Crossing | 4.4 miles | 18 | |
| Wyles (historical) | 4.5 miles | 20 | |
| Harris | 4.6 miles | 12 |
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 Widener | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q970125 | 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 83320. 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.







