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Willow Oak, Florida

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1988. It stands in the Bartow census division. It lies in ZIP code area 33860. The Survey maps it on the Nichols quadrangle. 6,806 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 112 feet above sea level.

Willow Oak within Polk County

Then and now

1955 to 1988

The same ground, surveyed 33 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Willow Oak, surveyed 1988
Topographic sheet of Willow Oak, surveyed 1955

Population over time

3 figures

Willow Oak grew from 4,917 to 6,806 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.

YearPeople Change
20004,917
20106,732+1,815 (+37%)
20206,806+74 (+1%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 12 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

265 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 265 fires within 5 miles of Willow Oak between 1992 and 2020, burning about 9,051 acres in total. 15 started naturally. 10 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
Railroad operations and maintenance84
Missing data/not specified/undetermined44
Equipment and vehicle use31
Debris and open burning29
Misuse of fire by a minor25
Natural15
Recreation and ceremony14
Arson/incendiarism10
Power generation/transmission/distribution7
Smoking5
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
23 September 2015Equipment and vehicle use50 acresFlorida Forest ServiceDREAM OAK (53)
18 September 2019Power generation/transmission/distribution2.0 acresFlorida Forest ServiceSEABOARD (53)
18 September 1997Recreation and ceremony1.3 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
16 September 1997Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
1 September 2004Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
20 August 2007Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresFlorida Forest Service29 FIFTY CENT FIRE
19 August 1993Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreFlorida Forest Servicenot named
16 August 1996Natural4.0 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Polk County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 14 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 14 workings within 5 miles of Willow Oak: 7 plants, 3 past producers, 2 unknowns, 2 prospects. 7 still produce. What was taken out: Phosphorus-Phosphates, Uranium, Iron, Magnesite, Aluminum, Fluorine-Fluorite, Aluminum, Fluorine-Fluorite, Iron, Magnesite, Uranium, Water, Free, Aluminum, Fluorine-Fluorite, Iron, Magnesite, Uranium. 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
Little Wheels, Inc. - Wellman-Lord Trust MineSandUnknown
Mulberry Limestone Drying MillStone, Crushed/BrokenPlant
Nichols MinePhosphorus-Phosphates, Aluminum, Fluorine-Fluorite, Iron, Magnesite, UraniumPast Producer1915, 1970
Cristina ReservePhosphorus-Phosphates, Uranium, Iron, Magnesite, Aluminum, Fluorine-FluoriteProspect1935
Debris DepositsPhosphorus-Phosphates, Aluminum, Fluorine-Fluorite, Iron, Magnesite, Uranium, Water, FreeProspect1974
MulberryPhosphorus-Phosphates, Aluminum, Fluorine-Fluorite, Iron, Magnesite, Uranium, Water, FreePast Producer
Polk County MinePhosphorus-Phosphates, Uranium, Iron, Magnesite, Aluminum, Fluorine-FluoritePast Producer1974, 1976
Mulberry Gulf-AtlanticPhosphorus-PhosphatesPlant
Mulberry Phosphoric Acid PlantPhosphorus-PhosphatesUnknown1968
New Wales ImcPhosphorus-PhosphatesPlant

Every working recorded in Polk County

Storms near this place

2 since 2014

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Willow Oak in 2 storm reports between 2014 and 2016: 1 heavy rain, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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
September 2014Heavy RainWillow Oak$10,000Polk County Department of Emergency Management reported that two units of an apartment building in Mulberry had water entering the structure, with as much as six inches of water covering the floor.
September 2016Thunderstorm WindWillow Oak-A mesonet station near Mulberry measured a thunderstorm wind gust of 52 knots.

Every storm recorded in Polk 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
Fuller Heights1.1 miles17
Prairie Junction1.8 miles17
Nichols1.9 miles12
Mulberry2.8 miles17
South Mulberry3.1 miles17
East Mulberry3.2 miles17
Kingsford3.4 miles17
Tancrede3.7 miles17

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 Willow OakAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2422054The 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 301424. 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.