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.
Then and now
1892 to 1986The 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.


Population over time
2 figuresPutnam 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 3,844 | |
| 2020 | 3,776 | -68 (-2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
14 surveys from 37 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.
- 1892 USGS Carmel quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Carmel quadrangle1:62500
- 1894 USGS Carmel quadrangle1:62500, 8 printings
- 1928 USGS Carmel quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1943 USGS Brewster quadrangle1:31680
- 1943 USGS Brewster quadrangle1:24000
- 1946 USGS Brewster quadrangle1:31680, 2 printings
- 1947 USGS Hartford quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Hartford quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Brewster quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1961 USGS Hartford quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Hartford quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1965 USGS Hartford quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1986 USGS Bridgeport quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
Fires near this place
231 since 1999Regional 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/undetermined | 123 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 28 |
| Smoking | 21 |
| Debris and open burning | 17 |
| Natural | 16 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 8 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 6 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 4 |
| Other causes | 3 |
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 2009 | Smoking | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 7 September 2015 | Natural | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | NA |
| 7 September 2010 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 5 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 acres | Connecticut Division of Forestry | not named |
| 25 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 23 September 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 22 September 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5.0 acres | Fire Department of New York | NA |
| 21 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 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
6 within 5 milesRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobby Pyritiferous Ore | Iron, Sulfur | Prospect | ||
| Hobby Pyritiferous Ore Opening | Iron, Sulfur | Past Producer | Unknown | |
| Marble Rock Quarry No. 6k | Marble, Dimension | Past Producer | ||
| Marble Rock Quarry No. Gk-011 | Stone, Dimension | Past Producer | ||
| Pegmatite Quarry | Beryllium, Feldspar, Mica | Past Producer | ||
| Towners Pyrite Deposit | Sulfur | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
4 since 2007Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Putnam Lake | $10,000 | Tree on a house on Lake Shore Drive. |
| September 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Putnam Lake | $1,000 | A tree was reported down near 450 East Branch Road in Putnam Lake. |
| July 2025 | Flash Flood | Putnam Lake | - | Basement flooding on Gates Drive near Haviland Drive. Fire Department responding. |
| April 2007 | Flood | Putnam Lake | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barnum Corners | 0.5 miles | 37 | |
| Deforest Corners | 1.2 miles | 37 | |
| Valleyville | 1.7 miles | 37 | |
| Haviland Hollow | 2.0 miles | 37 | |
| Elm Tree Corner | 2.0 miles | 37 | |
| Haines Corners | 2.1 miles | 37 | |
| Doanesburgh (historical) | 2.3 miles | 37 | |
| Gayville | 2.5 miles | 37 |
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 Lake | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3461860 | 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 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.













