Ordway, Colorado
14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Ordway census division. It lies in ZIP code area 81063. The Survey maps it on the Ordway quadrangle. 1,066 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,311 feet above sea level.
Research this city
Population over time
2 figuresOrdway fell from 1,080 to 1,066 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,080 | |
| 2020 | 1,066 | -14 (-1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 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.
- 1891 USGS Catlin quadrangle1:125000
- 1893 USGS Catlin quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1954 USGS Lamar quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1954 USGS Ordway quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Lamar quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1981 USGS Las Animas quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
53 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 53 fires within 5 miles of Ordway between 1994 and 2020, burning about 9,064 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 1 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/undetermined | 21 |
| Debris and open burning | 11 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 6 |
| Smoking | 5 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 5 |
| Natural | 4 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
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 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 26 September 2013 | Natural | under an acre | Ordway Volunteer Fire Department | UNKNOWN |
| 6 August 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | ORDWAY |
| 26 August 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 25 August 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 16 August 2017 | Natural | under an acre | Ordway Volunteer Fire Department | UNKNOWN |
| 8 July 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Ordway Volunteer Fire Department | UNKNOWN |
| 6 July 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | ORDWAY |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Ordway: 1 past producer. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Henry Anticline | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
47 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ordway in 47 storm reports between 1994 and 2024: 32 hail, 9 thunderstorm wind, 3 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2000 | Lightning | Ordway | $1,000 | no account filed |
| July 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ordway | $50 | Thunderstorm winds knocked down fences and broke tree limbs in Ordway (15 miles northwest of La Junta). |
| August 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ordway | - | An NWS Employee reported thunderstorm wind damage, with tree limbs down. |
| September 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ordway | - | Two to three inch tree limbs were snapped off. Metal siding and roofing debris was scattered around Ordway. |
| May 2021 | Tornado (EFU) | Ordway | - | The tornado was on the ground for 4 minutes. |
| June 2019 | Hail | Ordway | - | CoCoRaHS observer relayed quarter size hail just east of Ordway. |
| June 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ordway | - | Large cottonwood trees were uprooted. |
| August 1999 | Flash Flood | Ordway | - | Heavy rain caused extensive flooding of low lying areas in central Crowley county. No significant property damage was reported. |
| July 2023 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| May 2021 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| August 2017 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| September 2016 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| July 2016 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| June 2015 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| May 2010 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| May 2010 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| July 2010 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| August 2008 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| August 2007 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| July 2006 | Flash Flood | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| July 2005 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| September 2001 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| July 1998 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| June 1997 | Flash Flood | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| June 1996 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| July 1996 | Funnel Cloud | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| July 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| May 1995 | Hail | Ordway | - | no account filed |
| May 1995 | Hail | Ordway | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sugar City | 5.0 miles | 14 | |
| Crowley | 5.6 miles | 14 | |
| King Center | 8.5 miles | 14 | |
| Olney Springs | 10.6 miles | 14 | |
| Pultney | 15.9 miles | 18 |
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 Ordway | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1915939 | 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 203804. 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.





