BlockWildwood, Florida
19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1979. It stands in the Wildwood census division. It lies in ZIP code area 34785. The Survey maps it on the Wildwood quadrangle. 15,730 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 66 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1893 to 1979The same ground, surveyed 86 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
Compare 1893 against another survey:
On record in Wildwood
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
- Community of Royal Rural Historic Districtlisted 2026
Population over time
3 figuresWildwood grew from 3,924 to 15,730 between 2000 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 3,924 | |
| 2010 | 6,709 | +2,785 (+71%) |
| 2020 | 15,730 | +9,021 (+134%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 19 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.
- 1893 USGS Panasoffkee quadrangle1:62500
- 1895 USGS Panasoffkee quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1955 USGS Plant City quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1955 USGS Tarpon Springs quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Plant City quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Plant City quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Plant City quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Wildwood quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1979 USGS Inverness quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
54 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 54 fires within 5 miles of Wildwood between 1992 and 2020, burning about 334 acres in total. 8 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 13 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 9 |
| Natural | 8 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 7 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 6 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 September 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Florida Forest Service | not named |
| 18 August 2003 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Florida Forest Service | HOBO FIRE 1129 |
| 7 July 2004 | Natural | under an acre | Florida Forest Service | BLUE STREAK/0645 |
| 4 July 2019 | Natural | under an acre | Florida Forest Service | CYPRESS TREE (60) |
| 19 July 2007 | Natural | under an acre | Florida Forest Service | 60/HIGHWAY FIRE/0889 |
| 16 July 1997 | Natural | under an acre | Florida Forest Service | not named |
| 3 June 1999 | Natural | 5.0 acres | Florida Forest Service | not named |
| 29 June 2020 | Natural | 2.0 acres | Florida Forest Service | SOUTHBOUND (60) |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Wildwood: 2 unknowns, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand, Peat. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Peat - Cherry Lake Pit | Peat | Producer | Peat | |
| Hewitt Contracting Company, Inc. - Hewitt Mine | Sand | Unknown | ||
| Logan Sitework Contractiors, Inc. - Logan Mine | Sand | Unknown |
Storms near this place
18 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Wildwood in 18 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 7 thunderstorm wind, 3 flood, 3 hail, 2 lightning. The reports record 1 death and 2 injuries. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 1997 | Lightning | Wildwood | 1 killed, 2 hurt | Lightning from the cirrus anvil of a distant thunderstorm struck and killed a nine year old child and injured two other children ages eleven and fifteen. The children were standing along the sidelines of the Wildwood High School football practice field. The nine year old male child died ten days after the strike.The nine year old child took the direct lightning hit and sustained major burn injuries to his forehead, chest, back and down the left side of his body to the soles of his feet. The two older children's injuries from the lighting were minor. The lightning struck nearly 35 minutes after a thunderstorm had passed over the field. |
| April 1997 | Tornado (F0) | Wildwood | $200,000 | A tornado touched down along State Road 44 west of U.S. Highway 301 and damaged up to 24 buildings in the city of Wildwood. The tornado touched down on the Wildwood High School and caused roof and window damage. Numerous trees were uprooted and power lines downed by the tornado before it lifted and dissipated. |
| May 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wildwood | $70,000 | Sumter county sheriffs department and emergency management reported that thunderstorm winds caused minor roof and awning damage to six homes and downed numerous trees and power lines which blocked County Roads 114, 116, 117, 118, 121, 125, 153, 155, 163 and 468. Most of the damage to homes occurred in the Lake Miona, Orange Home and Lake Deaton areas of Sumter county. |
| August 2025 | Flash Flood | Wildwood | $35,000 | FDEM relayed report from Sumter County ECC of flooding in Wildwood as a result of heavy rainfall totaling 3 to 5 inches, resulting in several vehicles becoming stranded in flood waters requiring assistance. |
| January 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wildwood | $25,000 | Thunderstorm winds downed trees and power lines along several streets in northeast Wildwood. |
| September 1997 | Flood | Wildwood | $15,000 | Three to six inches of rain caused localized street flooding in a band from Wildwood in Sumter county southwest to Brooksville in Hernando county and continued south and east to Dade City in eastern Pasco county. A few stalled vehicles and low-lying mobile homes received water damage. |
| July 2023 | Lightning | Wildwood | $10,000 | Lightning struck a home on Crego Court. It started a small fire in the attic and blew the water main which lifted up the driveway and part of the roadway. |
| April 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wildwood | $10,000 | Sumter County Emergency Management relayed a report of a tree and power lines down on a mobile home on Legion Road in Wildwood. Time was estimated based off radar. |
| March 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wildwood | $10,000 | Damaging thunderstorm winds knocked down the traffic light at the intersection of State Road 44 and Highway 301. There were numerous reports of trees and power lines down in the area. |
| July 1998 | Flood | Wildwood | $10,000 | Heavy rainfall of up to four inches in less than an hour caused localized flooding of low lying areas between Wildwood and Bushnell. A few vehicles incurred water damage along U.S. Highway 301 in Wildwood from the heavy rain. |
| February 1998 | Flood | Wildwood | $10,000 | no account filed |
| February 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wildwood | $5,000 | Thunderstorm wind destroyed a barn and downed trees and power lines at County Road 237 near State Road 466. |
| February 1993 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wildwood | $5,000 | Strong thunderstorm winds downed trees and power lines south of Wildwood. |
| March 2014 | Hail | Wildwood | - | A report was received from the general public of quarter sized hail with a thunderstorm one mile southwest of Wildwood. |
| April 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wildwood | - | Trees were blown down and were blocking the roadway on Interstate 75 near the Florida Turnpike split. |
| August 2006 | Hail | Wildwood | - | A trained spotter reported mothball size hail. |
| April 2005 | Hail | Wildwood | - | Hail was reported by a trained SKYWARN spotter. |
| June 2002 | Flash Flood | Wildwood | - | Four inches of rain in one hour was reported by city officials. Flooding shut down U.S. Highway 301and a two block area near the Wildwood shopping center. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moreland Park | 1.7 miles | 18 | |
| Monarch | 2.1 miles | 19 | |
| Orange Home | 3.4 miles | 14 | |
| Royal | 3.6 miles | 18 | |
| Oxford | 4.3 miles | 18 | |
| Adamsville | 4.6 miles | 19 | |
| Coleman | 4.8 miles | 19 | |
| Bamboo | 4.9 miles | 14 |
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 Wildwood | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2152326 | 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 293301. 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.