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.
Then and now
1893 to 1993The 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.


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
Beacon Engine Company No. 1 Firehouselisted 2004
Bogardus-DeWindt Houselisted 1993
Madam Catharyna Brett Homesteadlisted 1976
Peter C. DuBois Houselisted 2004
Eustatialisted 1979
Howland Librarylisted 1973
Lower Main Street Historic Districtlisted 1988
Mount Gulianlisted 1982
Mt. Beacon Fire Observation Towerlisted 2009
National Biscuit Company Carton Making and Printing Plantlisted 2003
Reformed Dutch Church of Fishkill Landinglisted 1988
St. Luke's Episcopal Church Complexlisted 2008
Population over time
2 figuresBeacon 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 15,541 | |
| 2020 | 13,769 | -1,772 (-11%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
14 surveys from 36 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.
- 1893 USGS Poughkeepsie quadrangle1:62500
- 1894 USGS Poughkeepsie quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1903 USGS Poughkeepsie quadrangle1:62500, 11 printings
- 1936 USGS Poughkeepsie quadrangle1:48000
- 1943 USGS Poughkeepsie quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1947 USGS Hartford quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1947 USGS Wappinger Falls quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Hartford quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Wappingers Falls quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1961 USGS Hartford quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Hartford quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1965 USGS Hartford quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS Waterbury quadrangle1:100000
- 1993 USGS Waterbury quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
641 since 1992Regional 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/undetermined | 370 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 74 |
| Smoking | 51 |
| Natural | 49 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 27 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 27 |
| Debris and open burning | 25 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 8 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 6 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
| Other causes | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 6 September 2016 | Smoking | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | N/A |
| 6 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | N/A |
| 6 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 5 September 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | N/A |
| 5 September 2016 | Smoking | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | N/A |
| 5 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | N/A |
| 5 September 2008 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 42 shownRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hustis Quarry | Titanium | Occurrence | ||
| Probably Serpentine Marble Rock Quarry No. Hk-022 | Stone, Dimension | Past Producer | Marble | |
| Graphite Mine No. Hk-019 | Graphite | Past Producer | Graphite | |
| Graphite Mine No. Hk-019 | Graphite | Past Producer | ||
| Limestone Rock Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Limestone Rock Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Serpentine Marble Quarry | Marble, Dimension | Past Producer | ||
| Serpentine Marble Quarry | Marble, Dimension | Past Producer | ||
| Serpentine Marble Quarry | Marble, Dimension | Past Producer | ||
| Granitic Gneiss Rock Quarry | Stone | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
6 since 1994Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2001 | Hail | Beacon | $10,000 | no account filed |
| July 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Beacon | $5,000 | no account filed |
| December 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Beacon | $2,000 | A large tree was downed on wires near the corner of High Street and Beekman Street in the City of Beacon, causing road closures. |
| August 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Beacon | - | Law enforcement personnel reported that trees were down throughout Beacon. |
| May 2002 | Hail | Beacon | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Hail | Beacon | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fishkill Landing (historical) | 1.3 miles | 36 | |
| Groveville | 1.7 miles | 36 | |
| Brockway | 1.8 miles | 36 | |
| Dutchess Junction | 2.1 miles | 42 | |
| Beacon Hills | 2.2 miles | 36 | |
| Glenham | 2.6 miles | 36 | |
| Castle Point | 2.9 miles | 36 | |
| Chelsea | 3.4 miles | 36 |
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 Beacon | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q812892 | 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 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.













