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.
Then and now
1952 to 1988The 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.


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
Christ Churchlisted 1976
Fort Meade Historic Districtlisted 1994
W. Henry Lewis Houselisted 2012
Population over time
2 figuresFort 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 5,626 | |
| 2020 | 5,100 | -526 (-9%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 16 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.
- 1952 USGS Homeland quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1956 USGS Fort Pierce quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Fort Pierce quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Fort Pierce quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1978 USGS Bartow quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1988 USGS Fort Pierce quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
201 since 1992Regional 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/undetermined | 50 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 39 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 33 |
| Debris and open burning | 28 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 22 |
| Natural | 17 |
| Smoking | 6 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Other causes | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2006 | Natural | 10 acres | Florida Forest Service | 53 CLARK FIRE |
| 21 September 2003 | Natural | 450 acres | Florida Forest Service | PEOPLES COMMAND |
| 1 September 1993 | Natural | 15 acres | Florida Forest Service | not named |
| 8 August 2009 | Natural | 200 acres | Florida Forest Service | 53 640 CLARK CMD |
| 4 August 2009 | Natural | 10 acres | Florida Forest Service | 53 BLUE DRUM |
| 30 August 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 50 acres | Florida Forest Service | not named |
| 15 August 1999 | Natural | 375 acres | Florida Forest Service | not named |
| 9 July 2008 | Natural | 5.0 acres | Florida Forest Service | 53 PEEPLES ROAD 1 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 14 shownRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Meade Mine - Cargill | Phosphorus-Phosphates, Uranium, Magnesite, Iron, Aluminum, Fluorine-Fluorite | Producer | 1967 | |
| Fort Meade Mine - Mobil | Phosphorus-Phosphates, Aluminum, Uranium, Iron, Magnesite, Fluorine-Fluorite, Water, Free | Plant | 1966 | |
| Fort Meade Mine Mobil | Phosphorus-Phosphates, Fluorine-Fluorite, Uranium | Prospect | 1983 | |
| Fort Meade Mine Mobil | Phosphorus-Phosphates, Fluorine-Fluorite, Uranium, Aluminum, Magnesite, Iron | Producer | 1967 | |
| Rockland Mine | Phosphorus-Phosphates, Fluorine-Fluorite, Aluminum, Uranium, Iron, Magnesite | Producer | 1920, 1968 | |
| Rockland Mine | Phosphorus-Phosphates, Aluminum, Fluorine-Fluorite, Iron, Magnesite, Uranium | Plant | 1920, 1968 | |
| Watson | Phosphorus-Phosphates, Magnesite, Aluminum, Fluorine-Fluorite, Uranium, Iron | Prospect | 1983 | |
| Watson Mine | Phosphorus-Phosphates, Uranium | Producer | Collophane | |
| Watson Mine | Phosphorus-Phosphates, Iron, Magnesite, Aluminum, Fluorine-Fluorite, Uranium | Plant | 1906, 1936 | |
| Bartow Cargill | Phosphorus-Phosphates | Plant |
Storms near this place
8 since 2008Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2018 | Tornado (EF0) | Fort Meade | $5,000 | The 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 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fort Meade | $5,000 | The Polk County Emergency Management reported a few trees and power lines down throughout Fort Meade. No homes were damaged. |
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fort Meade | $3,000 | A 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 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fort Meade | $2,000 | A few large trees were snapped, along with numerous branches broken off and several powerlines downed in Fort Meade. |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fort Meade | $1,000 | Law enforcement reported numerous powerines down. |
| May 2014 | Hail | Fort Meade | - | Florida Division of Emergency Management reported hail the size of quarters in Fort Meade at 4:50PM. |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fort Meade | - | County emergency management reported multiple power lines and power poles down near Fort Meade. |
| August 2009 | Hail | Fort Meade | - | Nickel to quarter sized hail was reported on Broadway Street. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oponys Town (historical) | 2.2 miles | 16 | |
| Pembroke | 2.4 miles | 16 | |
| Tiger Bay | 2.4 miles | 16 | |
| Homeland | 4.7 miles | 16 | |
| Agricola | 5.4 miles | 15 | |
| Barcola | 7.1 miles | 15 | |
| Green Bay | 8.6 miles | 15 | |
| Cox Corner | 9.0 miles | 17 |
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 Meade | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2153424 | 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 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.





