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Mechanicstown, New York

23 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1906 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Wallkill town. It lies in ZIP code area 10940. It stands on Masonic Creek. The Survey maps it on the Middletown quadrangle. 8,065 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 531 feet above sea level.

Mechanicstown within Orange County

Then and now

1906 to 1986

The same ground, surveyed 80 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Mechanicstown, surveyed 1986
Topographic sheet of Mechanicstown, surveyed 1906

Population over time

3 figures

Mechanicstown grew from 6,061 to 8,065 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
20006,061
20106,858+797 (+13%)
20208,065+1,207 (+18%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 23 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

684 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 684 fires within 5 miles of Mechanicstown between 1995 and 2020, burning about 496 acres in total. 29 started naturally. 75 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/undetermined477
Arson/incendiarism75
Debris and open burning45
Natural29
Smoking20
Equipment and vehicle use18
Misuse of fire by a minor10
Power generation/transmission/distribution8
Recreation and ceremony2

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
9 September 2002Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
8 September 2015Arson/incendiarismunder an acreFire Department of New YorkNA
8 September 2015Arson/incendiarismunder an acreFire Department of New YorkNA
7 September 2016Arson/incendiarism1.3 acresFire Department of New YorkN/A
7 September 2014Debris and open burningunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
7 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
7 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
6 September 2016Debris and open burning1.3 acresFire Department of New YorkN/A

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Orange County

Mines and quarries near this place

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Mechanicstown: 3 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. 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
Crystal Run PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Crystal Run Pit and PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Goshen PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Goshen Pit and PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Merion Blue-Grass Sod Farm PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Orange County

Storms near this place

4 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Mechanicstown in 4 storm reports between 2008 and 2009: 3 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
June 2009LightningMechanicstown$5,000A building was struck by lightning in Mechanicstown.
July 2009Flash FloodMechanicstown-Route 17 in Goshen was closed due to flooding.
June 2009Flash FloodMechanicstown-The Metro North train station in East Middletown was closed due to flooding.
March 2008Flash FloodMechanicstown-Route 17 eastbound was closed at exit 120, due to flooding.

Every storm recorded in Orange 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
East Middletown0.6 miles23
Canterbury Knolls0.7 miles23
Midway Park0.9 miles25
Phillipsburg1.6 miles25
Middletown1.8 miles23
Washington Heights2.4 miles23
New Hampton2.4 miles23
Keystone Park2.5 miles23

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 MechanicstownAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3460049The 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 956896. 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.