BlockBefore

Buttonwillow, California

25 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1910 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Buttonwillow census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93206. The Survey maps it on the Buttonwillow quadrangle. 1,337 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 269 feet above sea level.

Buttonwillow within Kern County

Then and now

1910 to 1981

The same ground, surveyed 71 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Buttonwillow, surveyed 1981
Topographic sheet of Buttonwillow, surveyed 1910

Population over time

2 figures

Buttonwillow fell from 1,508 to 1,337 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
20101,508
20201,337-171 (-11%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 25 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

19 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 19 fires within 5 miles of Buttonwillow between 1995 and 2019, burning about 1,848 acres in total. None started naturally. 3 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/undetermined12
Arson/incendiarism3
Equipment and vehicle use2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Smoking1

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
8 August 1996Arson/incendiarism330 acresCentral California DistrictAIRPORT 1
8 August 1996Arson/incendiarism1,100 acresCentral California DistrictAIRPORT 2
22 August 2011Equipment and vehicle use5.4 acresCentral California District119 SPLIT
13 August 2005Missing data/not specified/undetermined355 acresCentral California DistrictAQUEDUCT
21 July 2019Arson/incendiarismunder an acreKern County Fire Departmentnot named
20 July 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.5 acresCentral California DistrictGOLF COURSE
18 July 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined4.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
14 July 1995Smoking10 acresCentral California DistrictELK #2

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Kern 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 Buttonwillow: 2 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Elsey PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Fellows Quarry No. 1Stone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Kern County

Storms near this place

4 since 2009

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Buttonwillow in 4 storm reports between 2009 and 2020: 2 flood, 1 funnel cloud, 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
March 2020FloodButtonwillow-California Highway Patrol reported roadway flooding on Buttonwillow Dr. at the intersection of Interstate 5.
February 2019HailButtonwillow-Facebook posts indicating penny sized hail in Buttonwillow. Time estimate was based on radar.
January 2017FloodButtonwillow-California Highway Patrol reported roadway flooding on Lokern Road near Highway 58 west of Buttonwillow.
February 2009Funnel CloudButtonwillow-A California Highway Patrol reported a funnel cloud near Buttonwillow.

Every storm recorded in Kern 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
Kilowatt1.2 miles25
Bowerbank3.2 miles25
Lokern4.0 miles24
Stebbins8.2 miles27
Tupman9.5 miles26
Rio Bravo9.5 miles27
Asphalto (historical)9.6 miles24
Spicer City10.0 miles24

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 ButtonwillowAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2347141The 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 1652678. 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.