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Fort Meade, Florida

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1952 and the latest in 1988. It stands in the Bartow census division. It lies in ZIP code area 33841. It stands on Sink Branch. The Survey maps it on the Homeland quadrangle. 5,100 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 138 feet above sea level.

Fort Meade within Polk County

Then and now

1952 to 1988

The same ground, surveyed 36 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Fort Meade, surveyed 1988
Topographic sheet of Fort Meade, surveyed 1952

On record in Fort Meade

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 3 records

Population over time

2 figures

Fort Meade fell from 5,626 to 5,100 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
20105,626
20205,100-526 (-9%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 16 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

201 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 201 fires within 5 miles of Fort Meade between 1992 and 2020, burning about 16,494 acres in total. 17 started naturally. 22 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/undetermined50
Railroad operations and maintenance39
Equipment and vehicle use33
Debris and open burning28
Arson/incendiarism22
Natural17
Smoking6
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Recreation and ceremony2
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Other causes1

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
6 September 2006Natural10 acresFlorida Forest Service53 CLARK FIRE
21 September 2003Natural450 acresFlorida Forest ServicePEOPLES COMMAND
1 September 1993Natural15 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
8 August 2009Natural200 acresFlorida Forest Service53 640 CLARK CMD
4 August 2009Natural10 acresFlorida Forest Service53 BLUE DRUM
30 August 1999Railroad operations and maintenance50 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
15 August 1999Natural375 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
9 July 2008Natural5.0 acresFlorida Forest Service53 PEEPLES ROAD 1

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Polk 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 Fort Meade: 5 plants, 4 producers, 3 prospects, 1 unknown. 9 still produce. What was taken out: Phosphorus-Phosphates, Magnesite, Aluminum, Fluorine-Fluorite, Uranium, Iron, Uranium, Fluorine-Fluorite, Aluminum, Uranium, Iron, Magnesite. 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
Fort Meade Mine - CargillPhosphorus-Phosphates, Uranium, Magnesite, Iron, Aluminum, Fluorine-FluoriteProducer1967
Fort Meade Mine - MobilPhosphorus-Phosphates, Aluminum, Uranium, Iron, Magnesite, Fluorine-Fluorite, Water, FreePlant1966
Fort Meade Mine MobilPhosphorus-Phosphates, Fluorine-Fluorite, UraniumProspect1983
Fort Meade Mine MobilPhosphorus-Phosphates, Fluorine-Fluorite, Uranium, Aluminum, Magnesite, IronProducer1967
Rockland MinePhosphorus-Phosphates, Fluorine-Fluorite, Aluminum, Uranium, Iron, MagnesiteProducer1920, 1968
Rockland MinePhosphorus-Phosphates, Aluminum, Fluorine-Fluorite, Iron, Magnesite, UraniumPlant1920, 1968
WatsonPhosphorus-Phosphates, Magnesite, Aluminum, Fluorine-Fluorite, Uranium, IronProspect1983
Watson MinePhosphorus-Phosphates, UraniumProducerCollophane
Watson MinePhosphorus-Phosphates, Iron, Magnesite, Aluminum, Fluorine-Fluorite, UraniumPlant1906, 1936
Bartow CargillPhosphorus-PhosphatesPlant

Every working recorded in Polk County

Storms near this place

8 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Fort Meade in 8 storm reports between 2008 and 2018: 5 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 1 tornado. 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
December 2018Tornado (EF0)Fort Meade$5,000The sheriff's office reported trees uprooted near US 98 and Pool Branch Road but no structures were affected. The only damage indicator is hardwood trees uprooted.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindFort Meade$5,000The Polk County Emergency Management reported a few trees and power lines down throughout Fort Meade. No homes were damaged.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindFort Meade$3,000A large tree was downed in north Fort Meade, and numerous large tree branches were downed along Highway 17. Minor street flooding was also reported within the Fort Meade city limits.
April 2010Thunderstorm WindFort Meade$2,000A few large trees were snapped, along with numerous branches broken off and several powerlines downed in Fort Meade.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindFort Meade$1,000Law enforcement reported numerous powerines down.
May 2014HailFort Meade-Florida Division of Emergency Management reported hail the size of quarters in Fort Meade at 4:50PM.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindFort Meade-County emergency management reported multiple power lines and power poles down near Fort Meade.
August 2009HailFort Meade-Nickel to quarter sized hail was reported on Broadway Street.

Every storm recorded in Polk 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
Oponys Town (historical)2.2 miles16
Pembroke2.4 miles16
Tiger Bay2.4 miles16
Homeland4.7 miles16
Agricola5.4 miles15
Barcola7.1 miles15
Green Bay8.6 miles15
Cox Corner9.0 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 Fort MeadeAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2153424The 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 282697. 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.