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Old Forge, New York

24 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1901 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Webb town. It lies in ZIP code area 13420. It stands on Beaver Brook. The Survey maps it on the Old Forge quadrangle. 727 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,857 feet above sea level.

Old Forge within Herkimer County

Then and now

1901 to 1989

The same ground, surveyed 88 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Old Forge, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Old Forge, surveyed 1901

On record in Old Forge

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 2 records

Population over time

2 figures

Old Forge fell from 756 to 727 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
2010756
2020727-29 (-4%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 24 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

11 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 11 fires within 5 miles of Old Forge between 2006 and 2020, burning about 12 acres in total. 1 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/undetermined4
Debris and open burning3
Recreation and ceremony2
Natural1
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
6 August 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
4 August 2015Naturalunder an acreFire Department of New YorkNA
22 August 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
25 June 2020Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresNew York Forest RangersADIRONDACK LEAGUE
25 June 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresFire Department of New YorkNA
25 June 2020Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresFire Department of New YorkNA
4 May 2013Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.1 acresFire Department of New YorkN/A
25 May 2012Debris and open burningunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Herkimer County

Storms near this place

27 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Old Forge in 27 storm reports between 1993 and 2024: 23 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail, 1 flash flood, 1 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
May 2002Flash FloodOld Forge$10,000no account filed
July 1997Thunderstorm WindOld Forge$8,000no account filed
September 1998Thunderstorm WindOld Forge$5,000no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindOld Forge$5,000no account filed
August 1993Thunderstorm WindOld Forge$5,000no account filed
September 1998Thunderstorm WindOld Forge$2,000no account filed
March 2020Thunderstorm WindOld Forge$1,000Trees and wires were downed, resulting in power outages in the town of Old Forge.
July 2024Tornado (EF1)Old Forge-A National Weather Service storm survey concluded a tornado touched down in northern Herkimer County. Hi-resolution satellite data showed widespread tree damage consistent with an EF1 tornado beginning east of Little Moose Lake and continuing northeastward to the southwestern corner of Limekiln Lake. Estimated peak winds were 100 mph. The path length was 4.1 miles with a path width of 150 yards.
August 2023Thunderstorm WindOld Forge-Trees and wires were downed along Route 28 between Old Forge and Eagle Bay.
February 2022FloodOld Forge-All lanes were blocked along Route 28 from Big Moose Road in Eagle Bay to Hollywood Road near Old Forge due to flooding.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindOld Forge-Law enforcement reported trees and wires down on power and cable lines on Fletcher Road.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindOld Forge-A tree was downed on South Shore Road.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindOld Forge-Trees and wires were downed in the Town of Old Forge. All lanes on Route 28 were blocked between Crosby Road and Adams Street.
May 2021Thunderstorm WindOld Forge-A tree was downed onto wires on Beechvue Point.
May 2017Thunderstorm WindOld Forge-A tree was downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2017Thunderstorm WindOld Forge-Two trees were reported down in addition to wires.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindOld Forge-Trees and wires were down in Old Forge as a result of thunderstorm winds.
June 2013Thunderstorm WindOld Forge-A tree was reported down on South Shore Road about 5 miles east of Old Forge as a result of thunderstorm winds.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindOld Forge-Trees and wires were reported down in Old Forge due to strong thunderstorm winds.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindOld Forge-Trees and wires were reported down near Old Forge due to strong thunderstorm winds.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindOld Forge-Trees and power lines were reported down near Old Forge due to strong thunderstorm winds.
August 2006Thunderstorm WindOld Forge-An Emergency Manager reported that trees were blown down in Old Forge.
July 2005Thunderstorm WindOld Forge-Trees down across Peach tree Road.
September 2005Thunderstorm WindOld Forge-Hundreds of trees and power poles were blown down. Roads were impassable. Damage is attributable to both severe thunderstorms and non thunderstorm wind.
June 2004Thunderstorm WindOld Forge-Trees and power lines down.
May 2003Thunderstorm WindOld Forge-no account filed
September 1998HailOld Forge-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Herkimer 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
Thendara1.6 miles23
Mountain Lodge2.7 miles24
Minnehaha6.0 miles23
Wolf Lake Landing7.9 miles22
Big Moose8.1 miles28
Eagle Bay9.3 miles28
McKeever9.4 miles22
Woods Lake9.9 miles28

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 Old ForgeAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7084012The 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 959281. 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.

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.