Purcell, Missouri
17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Mineral Township. It lies in ZIP code area 64857. It stands on Buck Branch. The Survey maps it on the Webb City quadrangle. 318 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 965 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresPurcell fell from 408 to 318 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 | 408 | |
| 2020 | 318 | -90 (-22%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 17 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.
- 1886 USGS Carthage quadrangle1:125000
- 1894 USGS Carthage quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1947 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000
- 1963 USGS Webb City quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1986 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:100000
- 1991 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
29 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 29 fires within 5 miles of Purcell between 1993 and 2020, burning about 191 acres 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 16 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12 |
| Fireworks | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 September 2020 | Debris and open burning | 2.2 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | 230712-02439-09212020-1645 |
| 20 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Missouri Department of Conservation | 230707-04955-09202020-1920 |
| 30 June 2018 | Fireworks | under an acre | Missouri Department of Conservation | 177195-04955-06302018-2059 |
| 8 April 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.5 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | 190403-04955-04082020-1515 |
| 6 April 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.1 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | 190402-04955-04062020-1340 |
| 30 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Missouri Department of Conservation | 176831-04955-04302018-1432 |
| 8 March 1993 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | not named |
| 7 March 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6.7 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | 190180-04955-03072020-1240 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 116 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 116 workings within 5 miles of Purcell: 115 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Zinc, Lead, Lead, Zinc, Zinc, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fenix Mine | Zinc, Lead | Past Producer | 1855, 1910 | |
| Nelson Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Unknown - Ls | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown - Ls. | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Aylor Lease N.E. Joplin | Zinc | Past Producer | 1898, 1900 | |
| Gibson Lease N.E. Joplin | Zinc | Past Producer | 1898, 1900 | |
| Marsh Lease N.E. Joplin | Zinc | Past Producer | 1898, 1900 | |
| Quick Seven Mine | Zinc | Past Producer | 1870, 1920 | |
| Robinson Lease N.E. Joplin | Zinc | Past Producer | 1898, 1900 | |
| Virginia Mine | Zinc | Past Producer | 1911, 1912 |
Storms near this place
1 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Purcell in 1 storm report in 1997: 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 1997 | Flash Flood | Purcell | - | Heavy rainfall of up to three inches caused flooding of Highways O near Purcell. Flooding was also reported along Highway 66 near Avilla. |
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 Purcell | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q960456 | 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 725003. 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.









