Ruby, South Carolina
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1941 and the latest in 1986. It stands in the Mount Croghan census division. It lies in ZIP code area 29741. It stands on Hogpen Branch. The Survey maps it on the Ruby quadrangle. 307 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 387 feet above sea level.
On record in Ruby
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
Surveyed buildings and structures 1 record
- Road S-47 Bridge, Spanning Deep Creek on Road S-47, Rubyfederal building survey, 6 photographs
Population over time
2 figuresRuby fell from 360 to 307 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 | 360 | |
| 2020 | 307 | -53 (-15%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 12 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.
- 1941 USGS Spartanburg quadrangle1:250000
- 1953 USGS Spartanburg quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1960 USGS Spartanburg quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1963 USGS Spartanburg quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Spartanburg quadrangle1:250000
- 1968 USGS Ruby quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Lancaster quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Photographs
1 photograph,Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Fires near this place
253 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 253 fires within 5 miles of Ruby between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,066 acres in total. 10 started naturally. 37 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 97 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 67 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 37 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 20 |
| Natural | 10 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 10 |
| Smoking | 10 |
| Other causes | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 September 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 29 September 2019 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 28 September 2013 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 28 September 2003 | Debris and open burning | 1.5 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 25 September 2010 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 23 September 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 22 September 2010 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 2 September 2018 | Debris and open burning | 4.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Ruby: 1 unknown, 1 prospect, 1 past producer, 1 occurrence. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Gold, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Manganese, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| R H Sowell Prospect | Manganese, Iron | Occurrence | ||
| Unidentified Sand Mine | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Hendrix Mine | Gold | Unknown | 1856 | |
| Hendrix Prospect | Gold | Prospect |
Storms near this place
20 since 2001Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ruby in 20 storm reports between 2001 and 2025: 12 thunderstorm wind, 4 flash flood, 2 hail, 1 lightning. The reports record 1 death and 1 injury. 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 2011 | Lightning | Ruby | 1 killed, 1 hurt | EM reported 4 people struck by lightning at a ball field in Ruby. Two adults, one refused treatment and the 26 yr old male died. Two other males, ages 10 and 19 were treated and released. |
| July 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ruby | $10,000 | Electric COOP reported trees and powerlines down in Ruby and surrounding areas. |
| August 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ruby | $6,000 | Sheriff reported trees down near Ruby. |
| July 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ruby | $2,000 | Sheriff reported trees down at the intersection of SC265 and SC9. |
| July 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ruby | $2,000 | Highway Patrol reported trees down on Angelus Road at Black Creek Bridge. |
| August 2010 | Flash Flood | Ruby | $2,000 | Public and Sherrif reported several streams over their banks and several secondary roads temporarily closing some. |
| May 2020 | Flash Flood | Ruby | $100 | Chesterfield Co dispatch reported Wexford Rd bridge over Deep Creek flooded and impassable. Times estimated. |
| September 2018 | Flash Flood | Ruby | $100 | Douglas Mill Rd closed due to flooding, and road washout, from Shag Rd to Sweet Home Church Rd. |
| July 2017 | Hail | Ruby | $100 | Ruby VFD reported pea size hail near Hwy 9 in Ruby. |
| July 2017 | Flash Flood | Ruby | $100 | Chesterfield Co Sheriff reported a pond overflowed and washed out Gilmore Rd near Mount Croghan. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ruby | - | Chesterfield County Dispatch reports trees down on Wamble Hill Rd near the intersection of Jerico Rd. Time estimated from radar. |
| May 2024 | Hail | Ruby | - | Broadcast meteorologist reported ping-pong to golf ball sized hail in Ruby. |
| July 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ruby | - | Dispatch reported a tree blocking Hwy 265 SW of the town of Chesterfield. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ruby | - | A business reported a tree down on a home in Ruby. Time estimated. |
| April 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ruby | - | Chesterfield Co dispatch reported numerous trees and power lines down throughout the county, including along Hwy 102, Hwy 145, and SC 9, in addition to several other side roads. Time estimated. |
| July 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ruby | - | Chesterfield Co dispatch reported multiple trees down on Hwy 9 in Ruby. |
| July 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ruby | - | Trees in roadway at Walter Gulledge Rd and SC Hwy 265 near Ruby. |
| October 2016 | Heavy Rain | Ruby | - | MBES1 USGS rain gauge recorded rainfall amount of 6.60 inches. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ruby | - | Reported several large limbs down at Elizabeth Academy Road. |
| April 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ruby | - | Sheriff reported trees down from Ruby to Chesterfield. Other trees were down from Patrick to Cheraw. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lees Crossroads | 1.3 miles | 12 | |
| Wexford | 2.5 miles | 13 | |
| Mount Croghan | 2.9 miles | 13 | |
| Catoe (historical) | 3.3 miles | 12 | |
| Maysville | 4.6 miles | 13 | |
| Maynards | 4.9 miles | 13 | |
| Chesterfield | 5.1 miles | 12 | |
| Shiloh | 6.6 miles | 12 |
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 Ruby | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2784249 | 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 1250482. 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.






