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Taos, New Mexico

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Taos census division. It lies in ZIP code area 87571. It stands on Rio Lucero. The Survey maps it on the Taos quadrangle. 6,474 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 6,969 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Taos within Taos County

On record in Taos

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 12 of 19 shown

Every listing in Taos County

Surveyed buildings and structures 7 records

Population over time

2 figures

Taos grew from 5,716 to 6,474 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
20105,716
20206,474+758 (+13%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 11 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

8 of 15 photographs shown, 1939 to 1943

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.

Questa, New Mexico. Spanish-American girl, a patient at the clinic operated by the Taos County cooperative health association
Questa, New Mexico. Spanish-American girl, a patient at the clinic operated by the Taos County cooperative health association
Collier, John, Jr, 1943. Library of Congress
Penasco, New Mexico. Waiting room of the clinic operated by the Taos County cooperative health association on well baby day
Penasco, New Mexico. Waiting room of the clinic operated by the Taos County cooperative health association on well baby day
Collier, John, Jr, 1943. Library of Congress
Penasco, Taos County, New Mexico. Domestic science class in a high school which is supported by the state but administered by the Roman Catholic Church
Penasco, Taos County, New Mexico. Domestic science class in a high school which is supported by the state but administered by the Roman Catholic Church
Collier, John, Jr, 1943. Library of Congress
Vadito, Taos County, New Mexico. A very poor Spanish-American home
Vadito, Taos County, New Mexico. A very poor Spanish-American home
Collier, John, Jr, 1943. Library of Congress
Taos County, New Mexico. Father Cassidy, the Catholic priest of the parish of Penasco, advising his parishioners
Taos County, New Mexico. Father Cassidy, the Catholic priest of the parish of Penasco, advising his parishioners
Collier, John, Jr, 1943. Library of Congress
Spanish-American woman rolling out tortillas near Taos, New Mexico. Taos County
Spanish-American woman rolling out tortillas near Taos, New Mexico. Taos County
Lee, Russell, 1939. Library of Congress
Spanish-American woman covering dough so that shaped loaves will rise evenly. Near Taos, New Mexico
Spanish-American woman covering dough so that shaped loaves will rise evenly. Near Taos, New Mexico
Lee, Russell, 1939. Library of Congress
Trampas, Taos County, New Mexico. A Spanish-American village in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Ditches and hand-hewn flumes carry the mountain water out over the valley for irrigation
Trampas, Taos County, New Mexico. A Spanish-American village in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Ditches and hand-hewn flumes carry the mountain water out over the valley for irrigation
Collier, John, Jr, 1943. Library of Congress

Every photograph of Taos County

Fires near this place

164 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 164 fires within 5 miles of Taos between 1992 and 2020, burning about 6,035 acres in total. 19 started naturally. 9 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 burning54
Missing data/not specified/undetermined34
Natural19
Fireworks13
Smoking12
Recreation and ceremony10
Misuse of fire by a minor9
Arson/incendiarism9
Other causes2
Equipment and vehicle use1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
27 September 2010Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCarson National ForestTAOS CANYON
24 September 2001Naturalunder an acreNorthern Pueblos AgencySAN JI
1 September 2014Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNorthern Pueblos AgencyBOX CAR
9 August 1996Naturalunder an acreNorthern Pueblos AgencyJUNIOR
7 August 2013Naturalunder an acreNorthern Pueblos AgencyPUCK
7 August 1995Misuse of fire by a minor2.5 acresNorthern Pueblos AgencyGREEN
7 August 1994Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresNorthern Pueblos AgencySHACK
6 August 2012Naturalunder an acreNorthern Pueblos AgencyLUCY

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Taos County

Mines and quarries near this place

8 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Taos: 8 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: 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 PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Materials PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Materials PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Materials PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Materials PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Materials PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Materials PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Materials PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Taos County

Storms near this place

8 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Taos in 8 storm reports between 1997 and 2021: 4 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 cold/wind chill. The reports record 1 death. 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
December 1997Cold/Wind ChillTaos1 killedA 62 year old Taos woman was found dead in the side yard of her home. The death appeared to be an accidental fall and exposure to subzero temperatures.
December 2021Thunderstorm WindTaos$5,000,000Snow squall. An intense line of thunderstorms with rain and snow moved quickly through Taos County early in the morning. An AWOS station in Taos measured a peak wind gust of 62 mph, but damage estimates within the city and surrounding areas indicate wind speeds of 80 to 100 mph as these high winds caused extensive damage. These thunderstorms produced a 2.9 mile long swath of damage from Blueberry Hill Road to El Prado oriented in an east-northeast direction. Six to seven homes sustained roof damage while one single wide mobile home was moved off its foundation. Numerous trees were snapped at the base with other large limbs downed, and at least two power poles were snapped at their bases. Two homes sustained significant roof damage with the aluminum roofing peeled completely off the homes. On a two story home, three-quarters of its roof was missing with part of its second story destroyed. At another home, a trampoline was found fifty feet in the air stuck in a tree. A radio tower was also downed which resulted in a power outage to the northern half of the city. Several schools in the area cancelled classes for the day while government offices were also closed. Taos County declared a State of Emergency, and COVID-19 vaccination sites were temporarily transformed into shelters for displaced people. Damages are a rough estimate.
July 1997Thunderstorm WindTaos$30,000High winds ripped away a portion of the roof from the Hacienda Inn. No injuries were reported. The area of the hotel damaged had been closed for months.
June 2015HailTaos-Trained spotter reported penny size hail.
June 2008HailTaos-no account filed
May 2006HailTaos-no account filed
May 2006Thunderstorm WindTaos-no account filed
May 2006HailTaos-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Taos County

Newspapers printed here

3,655 digitised pages

3 papers published in this town, digitised by the Library of Congress and free to read: 638 issues, 3,655 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.

What the paper printed

363 words

Front pages of the local paper, read from the Library of Congress scans: 2 issues all from 1905, 363 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
1905-03-11La Revista De Taos and the Taos Cresset133 words
1905-05-13La Revista De Taos and the Taos Cresset230 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
Cañon1.2 miles11
Ranchito1.3 miles11
El Prado1.7 miles11
Lower Ranchito2.0 miles11
Taos Pueblo2.6 miles11
Los Cordovas3.7 miles9
Ranchos de Taos3.9 miles10
Llano Quemado4.5 miles10

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 TaosAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q876315The 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 911545. 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.