BlockBefore

Watertown, Florida

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 2005. It stands in the Lake City census division. It lies in ZIP code area 32055. The Survey maps it on the Lake City East quadrangle. 3,018 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 187 feet above sea level.

Watertown within Columbia County

Then and now

1954 to 2005

The same ground, surveyed 51 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Watertown, surveyed 2005
Topographic sheet of Watertown, surveyed 1954

Compare 1954 against another survey:

Population over time

2 figures

Watertown grew from 2,829 to 3,018 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
20102,829
20203,018+189 (+7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 10 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

384 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 384 fires within 5 miles of Watertown between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,524 acres in total. 46 started naturally. 27 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
Debris and open burning99
Railroad operations and maintenance91
Missing data/not specified/undetermined59
Natural46
Arson/incendiarism27
Equipment and vehicle use23
Misuse of fire by a minor14
Power generation/transmission/distribution12
Recreation and ceremony9
Other causes3
Fireworks1

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
28 September 2017Debris and open burningunder an acreFlorida Forest ServiceMARION AVE (12)
25 September 2016Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreNational Forests in FloridaSTILL
25 September 2006Debris and open burning1.0 acresFlorida Forest Service06-12-JOEY LAND FIRE-1400
16 September 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreFlorida Forest ServiceMCCALL TERR (12)
6 August 1993Natural31 acresNational Forests in Floridanot named
31 August 2006Arson/incendiarism1.2 acresNational Forests in FloridaSTILL
28 August 2014Arson/incendiarism1.7 acresFlorida Forest ServiceVOSS (12)
25 August 1993Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreFlorida Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Columbia County

Storms near this place

22 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Watertown in 22 storm reports between 2008 and 2025: 15 thunderstorm wind, 5 heavy rain, 1 lightning, 1 hail. 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 2023Thunderstorm WindWatertown$5,000A downed tree damaged a mobile home near the Lake City Gateway Airport. The time of damage was based on radar. The cost of damage was unknown, but it was estimated for inclusion of the event in Storm Data.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindWatertown$3,000Two trees fell down on two separate homes near the intersection of North Craig Street and the Jacksonville Loop. The cost of damage was estimated.
July 2013LightningWatertown$500Lightning caused a structure fire near Lake City. The time of damage was estimated based on radar and lightning data. The cost of damage was unknown and estimated for the event to be included in StormData.
January 2025Heavy RainWatertown-Mesonet station TT672 Suwannee Forestry Center measured 12 hr rainfall as of 1/19/2025 of 4.93 inches.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindWatertown-A large tree snapped near the base of the trunk and fell onto a mobile home causing total destruction to part of the home along SE Beadie Dr. Time was estimated by nearby AWOS station KLCQ Lake City that measured a gust of 71 mph at 7:35 AM EDT. No injuries were reported.
August 2024Heavy RainWatertown-A private weather station along SE Romeo | Lane measured 3.62 inches of daily rainfall | as of 9:05 pm. Most of the rain fell after | 6:30 through 9 pm.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindWatertown-Trees and power lines were blown down near Watertown.
November 2023Heavy RainWatertown-A mesonet station at the Suwannee Forestry center measured a 24 hour of rainfall of 2.51 inches.
May 2023HailWatertown-Quarter size hail was observed near the Lake City Airport.
August 2022Heavy RainWatertown-Personal Weather site KFLLAKEC58 measured rainfall to about 3.7 inches. The rain estimated to begin around 7 pm EDT.
April 2019Thunderstorm WindWatertown-Trees and power lines were blown down across the eastern portion of the county.
July 2017Thunderstorm WindWatertown-Trees were blown down near Hanover Place and County Club Road.
May 2016Thunderstorm WindWatertown-A large tree was blown down near Washington Street and Bascom Norris Drive.
August 2016Thunderstorm WindWatertown-A downburst caused widespread wind damage to many trees and several homes in the South Country Clud Road area, about 4 miles SE of Lake City. Trees and power lines were blown down with about 3K residents without power. EM did a damage assessment at 374 SE Forest Terrace which was heavily impacted from large trees falling onto the home. Another residence impacted was at 288 SE Whistle Loop with a tree down on one end of the home. Trees also fell on an uninhabited residence at 151 SE Hanover Place. Roof damage occurred to a home at 1827 SE County Road 252. The cost of damage was unknown.
August 2015Thunderstorm WindWatertown-Trees were blown down near County Club Hammock Road near County Road 252.
June 2015Thunderstorm WindWatertown-Trees and power lines were blown down on County Club Road. The time of damage was based on radar.
June 2015Thunderstorm WindWatertown-EM Storm survey reported numerous large limbs and trees down on homes along Andy Court. Plywood was stripped and landed on a car.
June 2012Heavy RainWatertown-A spotter reported moderate street flooding near the Veterans Administration Hospital in the Lake City. Storm drains were overflowing. Widespread 5 to 6 inches of rain fell throughout Suwannee and central portions of Columbia counties.
April 2011Thunderstorm WindWatertown-A tree was blown down on a home at 437 SE Rosewood Circle in Lake City. Around 4,500 people were without power on the west side of Lake City due to extensive wind damage.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindWatertown-Trees and power lines were blown down around the east side of Lake City on Ridgewood Drive and Lake Jessy Road.
February 2008Thunderstorm WindWatertown-A home was damaged by fallen tree at Klondike and U.S. 90 near Hopkins Motors.
April 2008Thunderstorm WindWatertown-Three trees were blown down at the intersection of State Road 100 and County Road with one tree down on a power line.

Every storm recorded in Columbia 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
Newco0.9 miles10
Halpata (historical)1.2 miles8
Lake City1.3 miles8
Five Points1.7 miles8
Wilburn1.9 miles10
Navair2.2 miles10
Miltons Campground Number 12.2 miles8
Lacymark2.3 miles8

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 WatertownAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2453592The 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 306564. 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.

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.