Gaston, Indiana
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Washington Township. It lies in ZIP code area 47342. It stands on Town Run. The Survey maps it on the Gaston quadrangle. 796 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 886 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresGaston fell from 871 to 796 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 | 871 | |
| 2020 | 796 | -75 (-9%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 13 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.
- 1953 USGS Muncie quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1956 USGS Muncie quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Gaston quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1986 USGS Muncie quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
In the county-history sources
15,878 words on this townshipA Portrait and Biographical Record of Delaware County, Indiana :, published 1894 names this settlement in its chapter on Washington Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
BRANK BFAKEFY, the courteous and thriving general merchant of Gaston, Washington township, Delaware county, Ind., was born in Randolph county, Ind., September 15, 1855. His parents, William B. and Feah A. (Fyon) Blakely, came from Clinton county, Ohio, in 1852, and sttled on the farm near Farmland, Monroe township, Randolph county, where the father died in 1887. The mother still survives, together with three sons and one daugh- ter, one son having died at the age of five years. The Lyon family is of English origin, and Mrs. Leah Blakely is the niece of Gen. Lyon, who was killed at the battle of Wilson's Creek, Mo., August lO, 1861, while gallantly charging the enemy. Mrs. Blakely also had three brothers in the Union army under the intrepid Gen. W. T. Sherman.
Passage source: A Portrait and Biographical Record of Delaware County, Indiana :, published 1894.
Amos F. Janney lived upon the farm with his parents until he was twenty years old, working upon the place during the summer and attending school during the winter season. He began life for himself by taking charge of the home farm for a year, and working it upon shares, and at the expiration of that time, bought a farm of eighty acres in Washington township, upon which he continued to live until within a comparatively recent date, when he removed to the village of Gaston, where he is spending his years in retirement from active business. Mr. Janney owns a farm of 150 acres, in a fine state of cultivation, and also has a valuable property in Gaston. Mr. Janney was married March 12, 1857, to Miss Barbara J. Roberts, who was born November 16, 1835, the daughter of Vincent and Dorcas Roberts, natives of Dearborn county, Ind. Mr. Roberts became a resident of Delaware county in 1854, locating upon a farm in Washington township. He was a minister of the Christian church, and he and his wife died a number of years ago, firm believers in the faith of that body. Mr. Roberts was a very intelligent and successful farmer.
Passage source: A Portrait and Biographical Record of Delaware County, Indiana :, published 1894.
Henry A. Jones lived with his parents until he was of age, and then learned the carpenter's trade, but worked at home most of the time until he reached the age of twentyfour, but carpentering engaged his attention for some time after his marriage. When this latter important event occurred he owned ninty-one acres of land in the township named, and lived upon it until 1883. The farm was located in section i8, and consisted of 165 acres. In the year named he sold this tract, and bought his present farm near Gaston, which consists of 164 acres. He also owns four lots in the town of Gaston, where he has built one of the finest residences in the town, in which he and his wife expect to spend the remainder of their days. Mr. Jones engaged in the mercantile business for a short time a few years ago, but was burned out and sustained a loss of $3,000.
Passage source: A Portrait and Biographical Record of Delaware County, Indiana :, published 1894.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Read the whole chapter on Washington Township - it names this place 6 more 6 times.
Fires near this place
1 since 2004Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Gaston in 2004, burning under an acre in total. None started naturally. None was 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 |
|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 October 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Indiana State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
8 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Gaston in 8 storm reports between 2000 and 2023: 5 hail, 3 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gaston | $25,000 | The thunderstorm winds blew two semi trucks over and caused numerous trees and power lines to fall. |
| May 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gaston | $5,000 | A telephone pole was reported down at County Road 600W and 900N due to thunderstorm wind gusts. |
| June 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gaston | $1,000 | Several power lines and small trees downed due to thunderstorm wind gusts. |
| July 2023 | Hail | Gaston | - | Hail as large as quarters along Interstate 69 near County Road 950 North. |
| May 2005 | Hail | Gaston | - | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Hail | Gaston | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Gaston | - | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Hail | Gaston | - | no account filed |
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.
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 Gaston | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2305819 | 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 434988. 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.



