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.
Then and now
1954 to 2005The 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.


Compare 1954 against another survey:
Population over time
2 figuresWatertown 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 2,829 | |
| 2020 | 3,018 | +189 (+7%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 10 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.
- 1954 USGS Valdosta quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Valdosta quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Valdosta quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Lake City East quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1981 USGS Lake City quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 2005 USGS Lake City East quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
384 since 1992Regional 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 burning | 99 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 91 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 59 |
| Natural | 46 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 27 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 23 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 14 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 12 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 9 |
| Other causes | 3 |
| Fireworks | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 September 2017 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Florida Forest Service | MARION AVE (12) |
| 25 September 2016 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | National Forests in Florida | STILL |
| 25 September 2006 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Florida Forest Service | 06-12-JOEY LAND FIRE-1400 |
| 16 September 2019 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Florida Forest Service | MCCALL TERR (12) |
| 6 August 1993 | Natural | 31 acres | National Forests in Florida | not named |
| 31 August 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.2 acres | National Forests in Florida | STILL |
| 28 August 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.7 acres | Florida Forest Service | VOSS (12) |
| 25 August 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Florida Forest Service | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
22 since 2008Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watertown | $5,000 | A 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 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watertown | $3,000 | Two 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 2013 | Lightning | Watertown | $500 | Lightning 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 2025 | Heavy Rain | Watertown | - | Mesonet station TT672 Suwannee Forestry Center measured 12 hr rainfall as of 1/19/2025 of 4.93 inches. |
| May 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watertown | - | 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 2024 | Heavy Rain | Watertown | - | 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 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watertown | - | Trees and power lines were blown down near Watertown. |
| November 2023 | Heavy Rain | Watertown | - | A mesonet station at the Suwannee Forestry center measured a 24 hour of rainfall of 2.51 inches. |
| May 2023 | Hail | Watertown | - | Quarter size hail was observed near the Lake City Airport. |
| August 2022 | Heavy Rain | Watertown | - | Personal Weather site KFLLAKEC58 measured rainfall to about 3.7 inches. The rain estimated to begin around 7 pm EDT. |
| April 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watertown | - | Trees and power lines were blown down across the eastern portion of the county. |
| July 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watertown | - | Trees were blown down near Hanover Place and County Club Road. |
| May 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watertown | - | A large tree was blown down near Washington Street and Bascom Norris Drive. |
| August 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watertown | - | 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 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watertown | - | Trees were blown down near County Club Hammock Road near County Road 252. |
| June 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watertown | - | Trees and power lines were blown down on County Club Road. The time of damage was based on radar. |
| June 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watertown | - | EM Storm survey reported numerous large limbs and trees down on homes along Andy Court. Plywood was stripped and landed on a car. |
| June 2012 | Heavy Rain | Watertown | - | 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 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watertown | - | 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 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watertown | - | Trees and power lines were blown down around the east side of Lake City on Ridgewood Drive and Lake Jessy Road. |
| February 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watertown | - | A home was damaged by fallen tree at Klondike and U.S. 90 near Hopkins Motors. |
| April 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watertown | - | Three trees were blown down at the intersection of State Road 100 and County Road with one tree down on a power line. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newco | 0.9 miles | 10 | |
| Halpata (historical) | 1.2 miles | 8 | |
| Lake City | 1.3 miles | 8 | |
| Five Points | 1.7 miles | 8 | |
| Wilburn | 1.9 miles | 10 | |
| Navair | 2.2 miles | 10 | |
| Miltons Campground Number 1 | 2.2 miles | 8 | |
| Lacymark | 2.3 miles | 8 |
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 Watertown | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2453592 | 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 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.





