BlockBefore

Roy, New Mexico

7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the North Harding census division. It lies in ZIP code area 87743. The Survey maps it on the Roy quadrangle. 193 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,896 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Roy within Harding County

Population over time

2 figures

Roy fell from 234 to 193 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.

YearPeople Change
2010234
2020193-41 (-18%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 7 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.

Photographs

1 photograph, 1935

Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.

These farm implements should never have been used for they destroyed a naturally rich grazing area. Mills, New Mexico
These farm implements should never have been used for they destroyed a naturally rich grazing area. Mills, New Mexico
Lange, Dorothea, photographer, 1935. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

7 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 7 fires within 5 miles of Roy between 1993 and 2016, burning about 154 acres in total. 1 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined4
Equipment and vehicle use1
Natural1
Debris and open burning1

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
26 September 2011Natural2.0 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionALAMITO
26 May 1996Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionCATES
27 April 2016Equipment and vehicle use30 acresLas Vegas DistrictTRACTOR
14 April 1997Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionANDERSON
21 March 2015Debris and open burning5.0 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionHICKS RANCH
23 November 1993Missing data/not specified/undetermined35 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionCOSTA
10 January 1994Missing data/not specified/undetermined80 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionSC0TT

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Harding County

Mines and quarries near this place

7 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Roy: 5 producers, 2 unknowns. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Calcium, Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Materials Pit 56-67-FSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Unnamed PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Unnamed PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Materials Pit 56-64-SCalciumProducer
Materials Pit 56-66-SCalciumProducer
Materials Pit 66-30-SCalciumProducer
Materials Pit 76-4-SCalciumProducer

Every working recorded in Harding County

Storms near this place

44 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Roy in 44 storm reports between 1995 and 2023: 37 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 1 lightning. 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
May 1995Thunderstorm WindRoy$200,000Several severe thunderstorms passed over western Harding County producing large hail and damaging winds, some of which were tornado-like. A mid-evening storm damaged or destroyed five barns at the Chicosa Lake State Park northeast of Roy. A second storm just before midnight tore a porch off a park bunk house and blew over a radio communications tower. Total damage from the two storms was estimated at $200,000.
May 2021HailRoy$50,000A trained spotter west southwest of Roy reported 1 inch hail from a severe thunderstorm moving southeast through the area. The observer also reported that their home roof was leaking as a result of hail damage. Damages are estimated for the roof damage.
July 2023HailRoy-Quarter size hail was reported.
June 2023HailRoy-Hail was mostly dime size but some were up to half dollars.
June 2023HailRoy-Hail fell for at least ten minutes.
July 2023HailRoy-Quarter to golf ball size hail was reported.
June 2022HailRoy-A storm chaser near Roy reported quarter size hail.
May 2020HailRoy-Half dollar size hail reported near Mills Canyon.
May 2017HailRoy-Hail up to the size of golf balls in Roy.
June 2017HailRoy-Hail up to the size of quarters near Roy.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindRoy-Peak wind gust to 60 mph near Roy.
May 2017Tornado (EF0)Roy-Brief tornado touchdown six miles north-northeast of Roy.
May 2017HailRoy-Hail up to the size of half dollars near Roy.
September 2016HailRoy-Half dollar size hail in Roy.
September 2008HailRoy-Hail ranged from marble to nickel size.
July 2004Flash FloodRoy-Heavy road flooding reported in Roy.
July 2000Flash FloodRoy-State Road 120 was flooded after 2 inches of rain fell in 30 minutes near Roy.
May 1995HailRoy-,,,,,,,,Hail (1.25)
July 2023HailRoy-no account filed
June 2023HailRoy-no account filed
June 2023HailRoy-no account filed
September 2011HailRoy-no account filed
April 2010HailRoy-no account filed
September 2006HailRoy-no account filed
May 2005HailRoy-no account filed
May 2005HailRoy-no account filed
June 2005HailRoy-no account filed
June 2004HailRoy-no account filed
June 2004HailRoy-no account filed
June 2004HailRoy-no account filed
September 2003HailRoy-no account filed
June 2003HailRoy-no account filed
September 2003HailRoy-no account filed
June 2002HailRoy-no account filed
June 2002HailRoy-no account filed
June 2002HailRoy-no account filed
June 2002Thunderstorm WindRoy-no account filed
June 2002HailRoy-no account filed
May 2001HailRoy-no account filed
June 1999HailRoy-no account filed
August 1997HailRoy-no account filed
April 1996LightningRoy-no account filed
August 1996HailRoy-no account filed
June 1995HailRoy-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Harding County

Newspapers printed here

5,075 digitised pages

1 paper published in this town, digitised by the Library of Congress and free to read: 509 issues, 5,075 pages. Every page is searchable, so a name or a street can be looked for directly in what the town printed about itself at the time.

NewspaperPublished
The Spanish American19??

What the paper printed

12,711 words

Front pages of the local paper, read from the Library of Congress scans: 6 issues spread across its run from 1905 to 1922, 12,711 words in total. Each is reproduced on its own page, exactly as the recogniser returned it.

These pages read less well than anything else here, and the number is worth stating: about three words in four come through cleanly, against nine in ten for the building records. An 1896 broadsheet sets eight-point type in seven columns on microfilm, which is the hardest thing in this archive to read by machine. We tested our own recognisers against the Library's and they were not better, so the Library's text is what appears, with the wholly unreadable columns removed. Read it as a guide to what the paper covered, and follow the link to the scan before quoting anything.

IssuePaper Length
1905-02-06The Spanish American2,686 words
1908-09-12The Spanish American2,154 words
1908-09-19The Spanish American408 words
1910-05-07The Spanish American2,170 words
1910-07-23The Spanish American2,073 words
1922-12-30The Spanish American3,220 words

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
Solano9.5 miles7
Mills10.2 miles9
Armenta Plaza (historical)12.4 miles7
Sabino13.0 miles4
Mosquero17.1 miles4
Albert17.5 miles4
Yates20.2 miles7
Dehaven21.2 miles7

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 RoyAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2086695The 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 894203. 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.