Wells, New York
26 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1907 and the latest in 1997. It stands in Wells town. It lies in ZIP code area 12190. It stands on Elbow Creek. The Survey maps it on the Wells quadrangle. 531 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,007 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1907 to 1997The same ground, surveyed 90 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1907 against another survey:
On record in Wells
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 1 record
- Wells Baptist Churchlisted 1988
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 26 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.
- 1907 USGS Lake Pleasant quadrangle1:62500, 8 printings
- 1950 USGS Utica quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Lake Pleasant quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1957 USGS Utica quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Utica quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1964 USGS Utica quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Utica quadrangle1:250000
- 1985 USGS Gloversville quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1990 USGS Wells quadrangle1:25000, 2 printings
- 1997 USGS Wells quadrangle1:25000
Fires near this place
26 since 2002Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 26 fires within 5 miles of Wells between 2002 and 2020, burning about 35 acres in total. 8 started naturally. 2 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 8 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 6 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Debris and open burning | 1 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2010 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | New York Forest Rangers | INDIAN LAKE ISLANDS |
| 3 September 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 11 September 2002 | Natural | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 5 August 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5.0 acres | Fire Department of New York | NA |
| 22 August 2005 | Natural | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 14 August 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.1 acres | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 13 August 2002 | Natural | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 7 July 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
11 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Wells in 11 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 7 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wells | $4,000 | no account filed |
| April 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wells | - | A state official reported trees down in Wells, NY. |
| August 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wells | - | Tree was downed onto wires. |
| July 2014 | Hail | Wells | - | Quarter size hail was reported during a thunderstorm in Wells. |
| May 2013 | Hail | Wells | - | Local media reported ping pong ball size hail from a thunderstorm in Wells. |
| May 2011 | Hail | Wells | - | Penny size hail was reported in Wells during a thunderstorm. |
| September 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wells | - | Trees were reported blown down by strong thunderstorm winds in Wells. |
| May 2006 | Hail | Wells | - | Three quarter inch hail was reported at Wells. |
| May 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wells | - | Powerlines were blown down in Wells. |
| May 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wells | - | Trees were blown down onto Route 8. |
| November 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wells | - | Tree and wires reported down near Wells and Raquette Lake. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blackbridge | 2.5 miles | 26 | |
| Gilmantown | 3.2 miles | 26 | |
| Pumpkin Hollow | 3.4 miles | 26 | |
| Griffin | 6.3 miles | 23 | |
| Hope | 6.8 miles | 23 | |
| Girards Sugarbush | 7.1 miles | 23 | |
| Speculator | 8.0 miles | 26 | |
| Lake Pleasant | 8.3 miles | 26 |
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 Wells | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q48739667 | 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 969038. 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.









