BlockBefore

Blende, Colorado

23 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 1989. It stands in the St. Charles Mesa census division. It lies in ZIP code area 81006. It stands on Salt Creek. The Survey maps it on the Southeast Pueblo quadrangle. 788 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,741 feet above sea level.

Blende within Pueblo County

On record in Blende

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 within a mile 1 record

The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.

Population over time

2 figures

Blende fell from 878 to 788 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
2010878
2020788-90 (-10%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 23 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

1,458 since 2011

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1,458 fires within 5 miles of Blende between 2011 and 2020, burning about 353 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 23 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/undetermined1298
Recreation and ceremony38
Debris and open burning28
Smoking24
Equipment and vehicle use23
Arson/incendiarism23
Fireworks15
Natural4
Misuse of fire by a minor3
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Railroad operations and maintenance1

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
9 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acrePueblo Fire DepartmentUNKNOWN
9 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acrePueblo Fire DepartmentUNKNOWN
9 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acrePueblo Fire DepartmentUNKNOWN
9 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acrePueblo Fire DepartmentUNKNOWN
9 September 2014Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acrePueblo Fire DepartmentUNKNOWN
8 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acrePueblo Fire DepartmentUNKNOWN
8 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acrePueblo Fire DepartmentUNKNOWN
8 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acrePueblo Fire DepartmentUNKNOWN

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Pueblo County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 14 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 14 workings within 5 miles of Blende: 8 producers, 3 unknowns, 2 past producers, 1 occurrence. 8 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silica, Geothermal, Clay. 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
Artesian Well #24GeothermalProducer
General Refractories PlantClayProducer
UnknownSilicaUnknown
UnknownSilicaOccurrence
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Pueblo County

Storms near this place

34 since 2004

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Blende in 34 storm reports between 2004 and 2025: 25 hail, 4 heavy rain, 2 flash flood, 1 funnel cloud. 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
July 2025Flash FloodBlende-Inundation of roadways, flooded intersections, small streams overflowing, some yard and basement flooding.
July 2021Heavy RainBlende-Heavy rainfall of 4.04 inches. First 3 inches of rain fell in approximately 1 hour.
August 2021Flash FloodBlende-Law enforcement indicates that flash flooding continues across eastern parts of the Pueblo area, though not as significant as earlier in the night.
August 2021Heavy RainBlende-Trained spotter reports 5.03 inches of rainfall.
August 2021Heavy RainBlende-Heavy rainfall of 3.29 inches.
July 2021Heavy RainBlende-Heavy rainfall of 1.44 inches, in 20 minutes.
May 2011Tornado (EF0)Blende-The tornado caused no damage.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindBlende-A 200 gallon tank was moved approximately 20 feet.
July 2023HailBlende-no account filed
July 2023HailBlende-no account filed
May 2021HailBlende-no account filed
May 2021HailBlende-no account filed
June 2014HailBlende-no account filed
June 2014HailBlende-no account filed
June 2014HailBlende-no account filed
June 2012HailBlende-no account filed
May 2010HailBlende-no account filed
May 2010HailBlende-no account filed
May 2010HailBlende-no account filed
May 2010HailBlende-no account filed
May 2010HailBlende-no account filed
May 2010Funnel CloudBlende-no account filed
June 2009HailBlende-no account filed
June 2009HailBlende-no account filed
July 2009HailBlende-no account filed
July 2009HailBlende-no account filed
July 2009HailBlende-no account filed
July 2009HailBlende-no account filed
July 2009HailBlende-no account filed
July 2009HailBlende-no account filed
August 2009HailBlende-no account filed
May 2007HailBlende-no account filed
August 2004HailBlende-no account filed
August 2004HailBlende-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Pueblo 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
Salt Creek1.1 miles23
Lombard Village1.9 miles23
Pueblo2.2 miles24
Fearnowville2.3 miles24
Baxter4.6 miles20
Goodnight5.5 miles28
Eden5.5 miles24
Vineland5.8 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 BlendeAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q4926004The 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 193790. 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.