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.
Then and now
1906 to 1986The 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.


Population over time
3 figuresMechanicstown 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 6,061 | |
| 2010 | 6,858 | +797 (+13%) |
| 2020 | 8,065 | +1,207 (+18%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
12 surveys from 23 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.
- 1906 USGS Goshen quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1908 USGS Goshen quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1938 USGS Goshen quadrangle1:62500
- 1942 USGS Middletown quadrangle1:24000
- 1946 USGS Goshen quadrangle1:62500
- 1950 USGS Scranton quadrangle1:250000
- 1953 USGS Scranton quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Scranton quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Scranton quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Scranton quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1969 USGS Middletown quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1986 USGS Middletown quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
684 since 1995Regional 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/undetermined | 477 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 75 |
| Debris and open burning | 45 |
| Natural | 29 |
| Smoking | 20 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 18 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 10 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 8 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 8 September 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | NA |
| 8 September 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | NA |
| 7 September 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.3 acres | Fire Department of New York | N/A |
| 7 September 2014 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 7 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 7 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 6 September 2016 | Debris and open burning | 1.3 acres | Fire Department of New York | N/A |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
5 within 5 milesRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crystal Run Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Crystal Run Pit and Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Goshen Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Goshen Pit and Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Merion Blue-Grass Sod Farm Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
4 since 2008Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2009 | Lightning | Mechanicstown | $5,000 | A building was struck by lightning in Mechanicstown. |
| July 2009 | Flash Flood | Mechanicstown | - | Route 17 in Goshen was closed due to flooding. |
| June 2009 | Flash Flood | Mechanicstown | - | The Metro North train station in East Middletown was closed due to flooding. |
| March 2008 | Flash Flood | Mechanicstown | - | Route 17 eastbound was closed at exit 120, due to flooding. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Middletown | 0.6 miles | 23 | |
| Canterbury Knolls | 0.7 miles | 23 | |
| Midway Park | 0.9 miles | 25 | |
| Phillipsburg | 1.6 miles | 25 | |
| Middletown | 1.8 miles | 23 | |
| Washington Heights | 2.4 miles | 23 | |
| New Hampton | 2.4 miles | 23 | |
| Keystone Park | 2.5 miles | 23 |
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 Mechanicstown | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3460049 | 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 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.











