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Laurel, Florida

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1943 and the latest in 1988. It stands in the Osprey-Laurel-Nokomis census division. It lies in ZIP code area 34275. It stands on Shakett Creek. The Survey maps it on the Laurel quadrangle. 12,186 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 10 feet above sea level.

Laurel within Sarasota County

Then and now

1943 to 1988

The same ground, surveyed 45 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Laurel, surveyed 1988
Topographic sheet of Laurel, surveyed 1943

On record in Laurel

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 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Laurel grew from 8,171 to 12,186 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
20108,171
202012,186+4,015 (+49%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 13 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

143 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 143 fires within 5 miles of Laurel between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,454 acres in total. 64 started naturally. 6 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
Natural64
Missing data/not specified/undetermined24
Equipment and vehicle use19
Railroad operations and maintenance9
Debris and open burning9
Arson/incendiarism6
Misuse of fire by a minor6
Recreation and ceremony4
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
9 September 1996Natural8.0 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
8 September 1996Natural30 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
6 September 2001Naturalunder an acreFlorida Forest Servicenot named
22 September 2003Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreFlorida Forest Service2003-15-1104
12 September 1997Naturalunder an acreFlorida Forest Servicenot named
11 September 1998Natural1.0 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
9 August 2020Natural7.0 acresFlorida Forest ServiceRANCH RD 2 (58)
6 August 2002Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Sarasota County

Mines and quarries near this place

9 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Laurel: 7 producers, 1 past producer, 1 unknown. 7 still produce. What was taken out: Limestone, General, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Calcium, 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
Dot Sarasota - Cow Pen Slough MineSandUnknownSand
Everglades Estates PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Everglades PitStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Laurel PitStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Laurel Pit Fla. Truck. & Excava.CalciumProducer
Rigby PitCalciumProducer
Apac-Florida - Laurel Shell PitLimestone, GeneralProducerLimestone
Deans Contracting - Section 35 MineLimestone, GeneralProducerLimestone
Stephen T. Deans - Section 21 MineLimestone, GeneralProducerLimestone

Every working recorded in Sarasota County

Storms near this place

3 since 2001

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Laurel in 3 storm reports between 2001 and 2015: 2 thunderstorm wind, 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
June 2015Thunderstorm WindLaurel$7,000Broadcast media relayed a report and pictures of several large trees uprooted or snapped at the bases near Nokomis, FL. The trees were all in a confined area and appeared to be blown down in roughly the same direction (to the west), leading to the conclusion that the damage was caused by a small microburst.
December 2008Thunderstorm WindLaurel$5,000Eight mobile homes received minor damage to lanais and carports.
June 2001Tornado (F0)Laurel-The public reported, through WWSB-TV (ABC) of Sarasota, a small tornado that briefly touched down over a sparsely populated, partially wooded area, near the intersection of Interstate 75 and State Road 681, two miles northeast of Laurel in western Sarasota county.

Every storm recorded in Sarasota 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
Nokomis0.9 miles14
Nokomis Beach1.0 miles13
Laurel Villa1.4 miles13
Venice Beach2.1 miles14
Venice2.1 miles14
Eastgate2.8 miles14
Venice Gardens4.6 miles14
Osprey5.0 miles13

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 LaurelAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q425638The 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 285395. 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.