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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.

Ruby within Chesterfield County

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

Population over time

2 figures

Ruby 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.

YearPeople Change
2010360
2020307-53 (-15%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 12 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.

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.

Road S-47 Bridge, Spanning Deep Creek on Road S-47, Ruby, Chesterfield County, SC
Road S-47 Bridge, Spanning Deep Creek on Road S-47, Ruby, Chesterfield County, SC
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

253 since 1992

Regional 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 burning97
Missing data/not specified/undetermined67
Arson/incendiarism37
Equipment and vehicle use20
Natural10
Misuse of fire by a minor10
Smoking10
Other causes2

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
3 September 1999Missing data/not specified/undetermined4.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
29 September 2019Debris and open burning10 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
28 September 2013Debris and open burning1.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
28 September 2003Debris and open burning1.5 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
25 September 2010Debris and open burningunder an acreSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
23 September 2005Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
22 September 2010Debris and open burningunder an acreSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
2 September 2018Debris and open burning4.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Chesterfield County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
R H Sowell ProspectManganese, IronOccurrence
Unidentified Sand MineSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Hendrix MineGoldUnknown1856
Hendrix ProspectGoldProspect

Every working recorded in Chesterfield County

Storms near this place

20 since 2001

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2011LightningRuby1 killed, 1 hurtEM 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 2010Thunderstorm WindRuby$10,000Electric COOP reported trees and powerlines down in Ruby and surrounding areas.
August 2015Thunderstorm WindRuby$6,000Sheriff reported trees down near Ruby.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindRuby$2,000Sheriff reported trees down at the intersection of SC265 and SC9.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindRuby$2,000Highway Patrol reported trees down on Angelus Road at Black Creek Bridge.
August 2010Flash FloodRuby$2,000Public and Sherrif reported several streams over their banks and several secondary roads temporarily closing some.
May 2020Flash FloodRuby$100Chesterfield Co dispatch reported Wexford Rd bridge over Deep Creek flooded and impassable. Times estimated.
September 2018Flash FloodRuby$100Douglas Mill Rd closed due to flooding, and road washout, from Shag Rd to Sweet Home Church Rd.
July 2017HailRuby$100Ruby VFD reported pea size hail near Hwy 9 in Ruby.
July 2017Flash FloodRuby$100Chesterfield Co Sheriff reported a pond overflowed and washed out Gilmore Rd near Mount Croghan.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindRuby-Chesterfield County Dispatch reports trees down on Wamble Hill Rd near the intersection of Jerico Rd. Time estimated from radar.
May 2024HailRuby-Broadcast meteorologist reported ping-pong to golf ball sized hail in Ruby.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindRuby-Dispatch reported a tree blocking Hwy 265 SW of the town of Chesterfield.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindRuby-A business reported a tree down on a home in Ruby. Time estimated.
April 2020Thunderstorm WindRuby-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 2017Thunderstorm WindRuby-Chesterfield Co dispatch reported multiple trees down on Hwy 9 in Ruby.
July 2017Thunderstorm WindRuby-Trees in roadway at Walter Gulledge Rd and SC Hwy 265 near Ruby.
October 2016Heavy RainRuby-MBES1 USGS rain gauge recorded rainfall amount of 6.60 inches.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindRuby-Reported several large limbs down at Elizabeth Academy Road.
April 2001Thunderstorm WindRuby-Sheriff reported trees down from Ruby to Chesterfield. Other trees were down from Patrick to Cheraw.

Every storm recorded in Chesterfield 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
Lees Crossroads1.3 miles12
Wexford2.5 miles13
Mount Croghan2.9 miles13
Catoe (historical)3.3 miles12
Maysville4.6 miles13
Maynards4.9 miles13
Chesterfield5.1 miles12
Shiloh6.6 miles12

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 RubyAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2784249The 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.