Okeechobee Battlefield

A National Historic Landmark. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. 7 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1952.

From the record

“The Okeechobee Battlefield is a Florida State Park and U.S. It is located four miles (6.4 km) southeast of Okeechobee, on US 98/US 441, near Taylor Creek.”
Wikipedia article Okeechobee Battlefield Historic State Park, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 3 National Register listings published here for Okeechobee County · listed in 1966 · category: Site · a National Historic Landmark.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Address. 4 mi. SE of Okeechobee on U.S. 441, Okeechobee, 34974
When was it listed? October 1966
Category. site
Census division. Okeechobee
National Register reference number. 66000269 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Then and now

1952 to 1988

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 36 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering Okeechobee Battlefield, surveyed 1988

Topographic sheet covering Okeechobee Battlefield, surveyed 1952

Fires near this property

230 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 230 fires within 5 miles of Okeechobee Battlefield between 1992 and 2020, burning about 586 acres in total. 33 started naturally. 21 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	39
Railroad operations and maintenance	38
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	35
Natural	33
Arson/incendiarism	21
Equipment and vehicle use	18
Power generation/transmission/distribution	18
Misuse of fire by a minor	17
Smoking	6
Recreation and ceremony	4
Other causes	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
4 September 2002	Railroad operations and maintenance	under an acre	Florida Forest Service	not named
28 September 1996	Railroad operations and maintenance	under an acre	Florida Forest Service	not named
25 September 2000	Railroad operations and maintenance	under an acre	Florida Forest Service	not named
18 September 2001	Railroad operations and maintenance	under an acre	Florida Forest Service	not named
14 September 1998	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Florida Forest Service	not named
1 September 1997	Arson/incendiarism	3.0 acres	Florida Forest Service	not named
9 August 2018	Natural	5.0 acres	Florida Forest Service	DEAD OAK (47)
23 August 2006	Natural	under an acre	Florida Forest Service	(OK) DOUGLAS FIRE (1372)

Every fire recorded in Okeechobee County

Storms near this property

49 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Okeechobee, the town this property stands in, in 49 storm reports between 1994 and 2023: 22 thunderstorm wind, 20 hail, 4 tornado, 2 flood. The reports record 1 death and 10 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
May 1996	Tornado (F0)	Okeechobee	1 killed, $50,000	no account filed
March 1998	Tornado (F1)	Okeechobee	10 hurt, $5,400,000	An F1 tornado touched down along the north shore of Lake Okeechobee near Highway 441. The tornado moved northeast though Okeechobee damaging six businesses and nine homes. Thirteen mobile homes and recreational vehicles were destroyed. About 100 others were damaged. Ten people were injured. Two required hospitalization.
August 2012	Flood	Okeechobee	$150,000	Persistent heavy rainbands from Tropical Storm Isaac produced widespread urban and lowland flooding across much of the county. Rainfall from the morning of August 26 until the evening of August 27 averaged 4 to 8 inches, with isolated totals of 10 to 14 inches, most of which fell from early morning until mid day on August 27. The most significant impacts occurred within the City of Okeechobee and adjacent rural locations, including Taylor Creek. Fourteen homes experienced major damage and another 146 had minor water intrusion (from either leaking roofs and/or high levels of standing water, mainly from over-topping local creek/canals. Several roads were temporarily closed due to standing water.
August 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeechobee	$50,000	Thunderstorms winds swept across the town of Okeechobee damaging 3 roofs, many fences and some screen porches.
August 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeechobee	$40,000	Thunderstorm winds damaged the roof and windows of a house northwest of Okeechobee.
April 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeechobee	$25,000	Thunderstorm winds blew down trees and damaged the roof of a mobile home and a barn.
April 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeechobee	$25,000	Thunderstorm winds blew down trees and damaged the roof of a mobile home and a barn.
May 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeechobee	$20,000	Thunderstorm winds damaged carports and blew down large tree limbs.
June 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeechobee	$10,000	Thunderstorm winds damaged the roof of a dairy building north of Okeechobee.
January 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeechobee	$10,000	Thunderstorm winds blew down a few trees and power lines and a satellite dish in Okeechobee.
June 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeechobee	$10,000	no account filed
August 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeechobee	$7,000	Thunderstorm winds seriously damaged the roof of a home northwest of Okeechobee. A 20 foot light pole was blown down and a window was blown out of a home.
April 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeechobee	$5,000	Strong thunderstorm winds swept across U.S. Highway 441 just north of the city of Okeechobee blowing down power lines and a few trees.
June 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeechobee	$5,000	Thunderstorm winds damaged awnings and carports on mobile homes in Okeechobee.
February 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeechobee	$5,000	Thunderstorm winds blew down power lines in the town of Okeechobee.
August 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	North Okeechobee	$4,000	Several wooden power poles to the northeast of Okeechobee, near 7200 U.S. Highway 441 North, were tilted by severe thunderstorm winds, with the two poles experiencing broken cross members. While a funnel cloud was reported in the area (see separate event), the wind damage appeared to be due to straight line winds.
September 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeechobee	$3,000	Thunderstorm winds blew shingles off a roof and damaged a canvas and pole awning.
June 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeechobee	-	An analysis of radar imagery, photos, and videos as well as a damage assessment conducted by the Okeechobee County Emergency Management indicate that a straight-line wind event caused damage in the City of Okeechobee around 620 pm EDT on Thursday, Jun 15, 2023. Peak winds during the event were estimated between 65 to 75\|mph.\|\|Damaging winds began near the intersection of US Hwy 441 and SE 37th Ct where a fast food restaurant drive-thru awning was lifted and bent. A swath of damage continued toward the northeast across US Hwy 441, where a small section of the roof of a grocery store was torn back. Additionally, a mobile home in the nearby community of Heritage Village lost a part of its roof when its porch awning was torn away by the strong winds. Minor damage was reported at the local flea market facility where some of the metal sheathing of the roof, and a small barn, were blown into the adjacent field and across SE 28th St. Several fallen trees and a downed powerline were also confirmed by fire and emergency management officials.
September 2022	Flood	Okeechobee	-	Heavy rain embedded within the outer bands ahead of Hurricane Ian produced widespread rainfall totals of 2 to 4 inches across Okeechobee County, resulting in isolated reports of street, urban, and poor drainage flooding. Emergency management officials indicated minimal damage to residential and business structures due to flooding.
April 2015	Hail	Okeechobee	-	Numerous reports via broadcast media and social media of quarter-sized hail in the city of Okeechobee. According to reports, duration of the hail was approximately 10 minutes.
June 2012	Tornado (EF0)	North Okeechobee	-	A brief tornado with estimated winds of 55 to 65 mph, or weak EF-0 strength, touched down in a rural, un-populated area east of U.S. Highway 441 and north of Highway 70, to the northeast of Okeechobee town. The touchdown was confirmed several days after it occurred, when the Florida Forest Service flew along the radar-based track of the storm. Sporadic wind damage was found along the storm track, consisting of isolated debris and vegetation blown-downs.
August 2012	Funnel Cloud	North Okeechobee	-	Okeechobee County Fire/Rescue relayed a public report of a funnel cloud near Okeechobee.
April 2011	Hail	Okeechobee	-	An Okeechobee Sheriff relayed multiple reports of golf ball sized hail near the intersection of highway 78 and 441.
April 2011	Hail	Okeechobee	-	A weather spotter observed observed tennis ball sized hail near the intersection of highway 78 and 441 in Okeechobee.
May 2009	Hail	Okeechobee	-	A public report was received of Nickel size hail in the 7000 block of Highway 78 West.
July 2007	Hail	Okeechobee	-	A trained spotter observed quarter size hail for about 10 minutes.
August 2006	Tornado (F0)	Okeechobee	-	Both the Okeechobee County Sheriffs office and the St. Lucie County Emergency Management simultaneously reported a small tornado on the ground just west of the Okeechobee - St. Lucie county line. No significant damage was found.
June 2004	Hail	Okeechobee	-	Spotter also reported an estimated wind gust to 60 mph.
December 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeechobee	-	Thunderstorm winds blew down a few trees and damaged tin roofs on Highway SR 78 near Okeechobee.
July 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeechobee	-	Thunderstorm winds blew the roof off a mobile home in Okeechobee.
June 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeechobee	-	Thunderstorm winds blew down trees in the Town of Okeechobee.
May 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeechobee	-	Thunderstorm winds blew down trees in the town of Okeechobee.
August 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeechobee	-	Thunderstorm winds blew down trees in the town of Okeechobee.
July 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeechobee	-	Numerous trees and a few power lines were blown down by thunderstorm winds. A roof was blown off a county work barn.
May 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeechobee	-	Thunderstorm winds uprooted trees and damaged a motor home.
June 1994	Hail	Okeechobee	-	Quarter-size hail fell in the town of Okeechobee.
May 2007	Hail	Okeechobee	-	no account filed
May 2007	Hail	Okeechobee	-	no account filed
May 2007	Hail	Okeechobee	-	no account filed
May 2007	Hail	Okeechobee	-	no account filed
May 2006	Hail	Okeechobee	-	no account filed
March 2003	Hail	Okeechobee	-	no account filed
May 2002	Hail	Okeechobee	-	no account filed
May 1999	Hail	Okeechobee	-	no account filed
May 1999	Hail	Okeechobee	-	no account filed
April 1999	Hail	Okeechobee	-	no account filed
May 1998	Hail	Okeechobee	-	no account filed
August 1998	Hail	Okeechobee	-	no account filed
July 1997	Hail	Okeechobee	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Okeechobee County

Maps showing this location

7 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1952 USGS Okeechobee quadrangle1:24000 - 4 printings
1956 USGS Fort Pierce quadrangle1:250000 - 4 printings
1958 USGS Fort Pierce quadrangle1:250000
1959 USGS Fort Pierce quadrangle1:250000 - 3 printings
1981 USGS Fort Pierce quadrangle1:100000
1986 USGS Fort Pierce quadrangle1:100000
1988 USGS Fort Pierce quadrangle1:250000

Listed places nearby

2 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph	Property	Distance	Listed
	Freedman-Raulerson House	3.6 miles	1985
	First Methodist Episcopal Church, South	3.9 miles	2015

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 66000269 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Okeechobee County	All 3 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
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.