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Putnam Lake, New York

37 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Patterson town. It lies in ZIP code area 12563. It stands on Corner Pond Brook. The Survey maps it on the Brewster quadrangle. 3,776 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 512 feet above sea level.

Putnam Lake within Putnam County

Then and now

1892 to 1986

The same ground, surveyed 94 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Putnam Lake, surveyed 1986
Topographic sheet of Putnam Lake, surveyed 1892

Population over time

2 figures

Putnam Lake fell from 3,844 to 3,776 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
20103,844
20203,776-68 (-2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

14 surveys from 37 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

231 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 231 fires within 5 miles of Putnam Lake between 1999 and 2020, burning about 268 acres in total. 16 started naturally. 28 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/undetermined123
Arson/incendiarism28
Smoking21
Debris and open burning17
Natural16
Power generation/transmission/distribution8
Recreation and ceremony6
Equipment and vehicle use5
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Other causes3

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 2009Smokingunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
7 September 2015Naturalunder an acreFire Department of New YorkNA
7 September 2010Debris and open burningunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
5 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined25 acresConnecticut Division of Forestrynot named
25 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
23 September 2003Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
22 September 2020Equipment and vehicle use5.0 acresFire Department of New YorkNA
21 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Putnam County

Mines and quarries near this place

6 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Putnam Lake: 4 past producers, 1 prospect, 1 occurrence. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sulfur, Iron, Sulfur, Stone, Dimension, Iron. 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
Hobby Pyritiferous OreIron, SulfurProspect
Hobby Pyritiferous Ore OpeningIron, SulfurPast ProducerUnknown
Marble Rock Quarry No. 6kMarble, DimensionPast Producer
Marble Rock Quarry No. Gk-011Stone, DimensionPast Producer
Pegmatite QuarryBeryllium, Feldspar, MicaPast Producer
Towners Pyrite DepositSulfurOccurrence

Every working recorded in Putnam County

Storms near this place

4 since 2007

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Putnam Lake in 4 storm reports between 2007 and 2025: 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 flood, 1 flash 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
June 2024Thunderstorm WindPutnam Lake$10,000Tree on a house on Lake Shore Drive.
September 2017Thunderstorm WindPutnam Lake$1,000A tree was reported down near 450 East Branch Road in Putnam Lake.
July 2025Flash FloodPutnam Lake-Basement flooding on Gates Drive near Haviland Drive. Fire Department responding.
April 2007FloodPutnam Lake-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Putnam 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
Barnum Corners0.5 miles37
Deforest Corners1.2 miles37
Valleyville1.7 miles37
Haviland Hollow2.0 miles37
Elm Tree Corner2.0 miles37
Haines Corners2.1 miles37
Doanesburgh (historical)2.3 miles37
Gayville2.5 miles37

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 Putnam LakeAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3461860The 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 962011. 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.