BlockBefore

Beacon, New York

36 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1993. It stands in Fishkill town. It lies in ZIP code area 12508. It stands on Dry Brook. The Survey maps it on the Wappingers Falls quadrangle. 13,769 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 138 feet above sea level.

Beacon within Dutchess County

Then and now

1893 to 1993

The same ground, surveyed 100 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Beacon, surveyed 1993
Topographic sheet of Beacon, surveyed 1893

On record in Beacon

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 16 shown

Every listing in Dutchess County

Population over time

2 figures

Beacon fell from 15,541 to 13,769 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
201015,541
202013,769-1,772 (-11%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

14 surveys from 36 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.

Fires near this place

641 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 641 fires within 5 miles of Beacon between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,138 acres in total. 49 started naturally. 74 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined370
Arson/incendiarism74
Smoking51
Natural49
Recreation and ceremony27
Equipment and vehicle use27
Debris and open burning25
Power generation/transmission/distribution8
Misuse of fire by a minor6
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Other causes2

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
7 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
6 September 2016Smokingunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
6 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
6 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
5 September 2018Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
5 September 2016Smokingunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
5 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
5 September 2008Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Dutchess County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 42 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 42 workings within 5 miles of Beacon: 33 past producers, 8 producers, 1 occurrence. 8 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay, Iron, Stone. 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
Hustis QuarryTitaniumOccurrence
Probably Serpentine Marble Rock Quarry No. Hk-022Stone, DimensionPast ProducerMarble
Graphite Mine No. Hk-019GraphitePast ProducerGraphite
Graphite Mine No. Hk-019GraphitePast Producer
Limestone Rock QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Limestone Rock QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Serpentine Marble QuarryMarble, DimensionPast Producer
Serpentine Marble QuarryMarble, DimensionPast Producer
Serpentine Marble QuarryMarble, DimensionPast Producer
Granitic Gneiss Rock QuarryStonePast Producer

Every working recorded in Dutchess County

Storms near this place

6 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Beacon in 6 storm reports between 1994 and 2021: 3 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail. 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
July 2001HailBeacon$10,000no account filed
July 1994Thunderstorm WindBeacon$5,000no account filed
December 2021Thunderstorm WindBeacon$2,000A large tree was downed on wires near the corner of High Street and Beekman Street in the City of Beacon, causing road closures.
August 2006Thunderstorm WindBeacon-Law enforcement personnel reported that trees were down throughout Beacon.
May 2002HailBeacon-no account filed
May 1998HailBeacon-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Dutchess 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
Fishkill Landing (historical)1.3 miles36
Groveville1.7 miles36
Brockway1.8 miles36
Dutchess Junction2.1 miles42
Beacon Hills2.2 miles36
Glenham2.6 miles36
Castle Point2.9 miles36
Chelsea3.4 miles36

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 BeaconAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q812892The 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 977521. 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.