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Willard, New Mexico

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1917 and the latest in 1986. It stands in the Mountainair-Encino census division. It lies in ZIP code area 87063. The Survey maps it on the Willard quadrangle. 201 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 6,099 feet above sea level.

Willard within Torrance County

Population over time

3 figures

Willard fell from 240 to 201 between 2000 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
2000240
2010253+13 (+5%)
2020201-52 (-21%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 10 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

7 photographs, 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.

Willard, New Mexico. Flagman walks back to flag any oncoming trains his train stops for water between Vaughn and Belen, New Mexico on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad
Willard, New Mexico. Flagman walks back to flag any oncoming trains his train stops for water between Vaughn and Belen, New Mexico on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad
Delano, Jack, 1943. Library of Congress
Willard, New Mexico. Passing through the town on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Vaughn and Belen, New Mexico
Willard, New Mexico. Passing through the town on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Vaughn and Belen, New Mexico
Delano, Jack, 1943. Library of Congress
Willard, New Mexico. Passing a filling station in the desert country along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Vaughn and Belen, New Mexico
Willard, New Mexico. Passing a filling station in the desert country along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Vaughn and Belen, New Mexico
Delano, Jack, 1943. Library of Congress
Willard, New Mexico. Stopping for water along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Vaughn and Belen, New Mexico
Willard, New Mexico. Stopping for water along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Vaughn and Belen, New Mexico
Delano, Jack, 1943. Library of Congress
Willard, New Mexico. Passing a filling station in the desert country along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Vaughn and Belen, New Mexico
Willard, New Mexico. Passing a filling station in the desert country along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Vaughn and Belen, New Mexico
Delano, Jack, 1943. Library of Congress
Willard, New Mexico. Flagman walks back to flag any oncoming trains his train stops for water between Vaughn and Belen, New Mexico on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad
Willard, New Mexico. Flagman walks back to flag any oncoming trains his train stops for water between Vaughn and Belen, New Mexico on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad
Delano, Jack, 1943. Library of Congress
Willard, New Mexico. Stopping for water along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Vaughn and Belen, New Mexico
Willard, New Mexico. Stopping for water along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Vaughn and Belen, New Mexico
Delano, Jack, 1943. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

24 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 24 fires within 5 miles of Willard between 1994 and 2014, burning about 2,668 acres in total. 2 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/undetermined19
Debris and open burning2
Natural2
Smoking1

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
13 September 1997Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionMOE
10 September 1994Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.2 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionEATO
9 July 1994Missing data/not specified/undetermined28 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionANDY
3 July 2000Debris and open burning1.0 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionCOLORADO
29 July 2000Natural20 acresNew Mexico State Forestry Divisionnot named
15 July 2004Debris and open burningunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry Division777
10 July 2000Naturalunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionMM177
5 June 2000Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.5 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionPOWERLINE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Torrance County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Willard: 3 unknowns. 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
Bronco PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Materials PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Materials PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown

Every working recorded in Torrance County

Storms near this place

7 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Willard in 7 storm reports between 2003 and 2024: 4 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flood, 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2024Flash FloodWillard$10,000Broadcast media shared a report from a semi-truck driver of flash flooding along NM Highway 42 just southeast of Willard, NM. Accumulating hail and an estimated 6 to 8 inches of heavy rain washed out and shutdown this stretch of highway. Snow plows were needed to be used to clear the way. There are no reports of injuries or casualties. Damage is an estimate.
May 2003Thunderstorm WindWillard$1,000A dust devil or brief land spout beneath developing cumulus clouds east of Willard caused minor damage to a mobile home. No lightning or radar signatures were indicated near the location.
September 2013FloodWillard-Heavy rainfall that produced flash flooding continued overnight resulting in further flooding of roadways and low lying areas near Estancia. A barn, nearby building, and numerous roadways were impassable through the morning of the 12th.
June 2004HailWillard-no account filed
June 2004HailWillard-no account filed
June 2004HailWillard-no account filed
August 2004HailWillard-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Torrance County

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
Silio5.3 miles6
Broncho6.0 miles10
Roundtop (historical)8.1 miles7
Lucy11.1 miles6
Estancia11.3 miles10
Progresso11.4 miles7
Mountainair12.2 miles10
Punta de Agua13.3 miles11

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 WillardAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1816658The 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 896618. 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.