Birch Tree, Missouri
14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1931 and the latest in 1997. It stands in Birch Tree Township. It lies in ZIP code area 65438. The Survey maps it on the Birch Tree quadrangle. 541 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 991 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresBirch Tree fell from 679 to 541 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 | 679 | |
| 2020 | 541 | -138 (-20%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 14 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.
- 1931 USGS Bandyville quadrangle1:48000
- 1944 USGS Birch Tree quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Birch Tree quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Poplar Bluff quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1959 USGS Poplar Bluff quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Poplar Bluff quadrangle1:250000
- 1982 USGS Birch Tree quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS West Plains quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1997 USGS Birch Tree quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
66 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 66 fires within 5 miles of Birch Tree between 1992 and 2019, burning about 2,482 acres in total. None started naturally. 36 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 |
|---|---|
| Arson/incendiarism | 36 |
| Debris and open burning | 21 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Mark Twain National Forest | TYLENOL 1 |
| 3 September 2001 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | not named |
| 13 September 1995 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | not named |
| 4 August 1999 | Debris and open burning | 3.0 acres | Mark Twain National Forest | J BOB FIRE |
| 4 July 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 24 acres | Mark Twain National Forest | WARM CORNERS |
| 15 July 1997 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3.0 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | not named |
| 5 May 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 80 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | 124130-09100-05052015-1430 |
| 4 May 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 75 acres | Mark Twain National Forest | SPOUSE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of Birch Tree: 8 past producers, 1 occurrence, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron, Copper, Manganese, Clay. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown Copper Usfs Land | Copper | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown Manganese Usfs Land | Manganese, Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Bryson Bank | Iron | Prospect | ||
| Clarence Ballance Land | Iron | Past Producer | 1914 | |
| Cutler Land | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Esther B. Detwiler Land | Iron | Occurrence | Surface | |
| Iron Hill Mine | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Ray Bowman Prospect | Iron | Past Producer | 1936 | |
| Unknown Iron | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Wooden Shoe Mine | Iron | Past Producer | Limonite |
Storms near this place
31 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Birch Tree in 31 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 22 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2017 | Hail | Birch Tree | $10,000 | This report was from social media with a picture. There was some damage to cars and windows in the Birch Tree area. |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Birch Tree | $10,000 | A large tree fell on a police car. |
| May 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Birch Tree | $5,000 | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Birch Tree | $2,000 | Several trees were blown down on Highway 60. |
| April 2025 | Flash Flood | Birch Tree | - | Route MM between County Roads 651 and 99 was flooded at a low water area due to heavy rainfall. |
| April 2025 | Flash Flood | Birch Tree | - | Several streets in town were flooded with water reported entering structures. |
| April 2020 | Hail | Birch Tree | - | Quarter sized hail was reported. |
| May 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Birch Tree | - | Several trees were blown down. |
| July 2018 | Hail | Birch Tree | - | Quarter size hail was reported. |
| March 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Birch Tree | - | Straight line winds blew a mobile home off of its foundation. |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Birch Tree | - | Severe thunderstorm wind gusts downed a large tree into some power lines. |
| November 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Birch Tree | - | Several trees were downed along Highway Y south of Birch Tree from severe thunderstorm wind gusts. |
| May 2018 | Hail | Birch Tree | - | no account filed |
| May 2018 | Hail | Birch Tree | - | no account filed |
| October 2014 | Hail | Birch Tree | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Birch Tree | - | no account filed |
| April 2007 | Hail | Birch Tree | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Birch Tree | - | no account filed |
| May 2006 | Hail | Birch Tree | - | no account filed |
| April 2005 | Hail | Birch Tree | - | no account filed |
| April 2005 | Hail | Birch Tree | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Birch Tree | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Birch Tree | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Birch Tree | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | Birch Tree | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | Birch Tree | - | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Hail | Birch Tree | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Hail | Birch Tree | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Hail | Birch Tree | - | no account filed |
| October 1996 | Hail | Birch Tree | - | no account filed |
| October 1996 | Hail | Birch Tree | - | 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.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bartlett | 4.3 miles | 22 | |
| Montier | 4.4 miles | 12 | |
| Congo (historical) | 6.8 miles | 12 | |
| Tin Roof (historical) | 6.9 miles | 19 | |
| Teresita | 7.2 miles | 12 | |
| Buckhart Springs (historical) | 7.3 miles | 22 | |
| Not | 8.1 miles | 12 | |
| Delaware | 8.9 miles | 22 |
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 Birch Tree | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q963821 | 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 748866. 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.








