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Ward, South Carolina

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Ridge Spring census division. It lies in ZIP code area 29166. The Survey maps it on the Ridge Spring quadrangle. 119 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 666 feet above sea level.

Ward within Saluda County

On record in Ward

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

Population over time

3 figures

Ward grew from 110 to 119 between 2000 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
2000110
201091-19 (-17%)
2020119+28 (+31%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 11 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

125 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 125 fires within 5 miles of Ward between 1992 and 2020, burning about 521 acres in total. 6 started naturally. 10 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/undetermined48
Debris and open burning42
Equipment and vehicle use12
Arson/incendiarism10
Natural6
Smoking4
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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
8 September 2018Debris and open burning5.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
28 September 2007Debris and open burningunder an acreSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
20 September 1995Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
20 September 1994Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
2 September 2005Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
14 September 1993Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
13 September 2011Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
10 September 1999Natural6.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Saluda County

Storms near this place

15 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ward in 15 storm reports between 1998 and 2023: 10 thunderstorm wind, 4 tornado, 1 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2011Thunderstorm WindWard$210,000Saluda Standard-Sentinel reported a home at 624 Duncan Road severely damaged from an intense microburst and numerous trees down around the area over southern part of the county near Ridge Springs.
May 1998Tornado (F1)Ward$50,000An F1 tornado damaged several buildings and homes and picked up two cotton bin holders and threw them 100 yds.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindWard$4,000Public reported a few trees down along Thunder Road just north of Ward.
August 2015Thunderstorm WindWard$2,000Highway Patrol reported trees down on Daniel Ave. about 1 mile outside of Ward.
July 2010Thunderstorm WindWard$2,000Sheriff reported a couple of trees down on Duncan Road and Hwy 23.
September 2023Thunderstorm WindWard-Saluda County dispatch reported trees down on Driftwood Lane. Time estimated by radar.
April 2017Tornado (EF2)Ward-The tornado touched down in Edgefield County near Johnston and moved to the ENE into Saluda County through Ward before dissipating northwest of Ridge Spring off of|Murphy Farm Road. Widespread hardwood and pine trees were uprooted and snapped causing damage to multiple homes and vehicles. Most of the damage was EF-0 and EF-1, but EF-2 damage with peak wind speeds near 115 mph was noted near Ward. |Widespread large hardwoods were uprooted and snapped with some trees having the bark stripped off. In addition, the top of a concrete silo was destroyed.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindWard-Trees down along Hwy. 39 between Sumter Schoolhouse Road and Spann Road.
April 2010Thunderstorm WindWard-Postal worker reported large limbs down in the town of Ward.
April 2010Thunderstorm WindWard-Post Office reported large limbs down in Ward.
March 2008Thunderstorm WindWard-Sheriff reported small sheds destroyed and the gazebo damaged in Ward and trees down on hwy 178 near Batesburg.
March 2008Tornado (EF2)Ward-Supercell from McCormick and Edgefield counties crossed into southern Saluda county just south of Ward taking down many trees in its path. A house located at 381 Mt. Alpha Road south of the Ward town limits had major damage. The resident was in the kitchen when a huge limb almost struck her in the head. Her three kids were in the living room that had a limb go through the ceiling. Also, a truck across the street had a power pole and tree fall on it.
July 2007Thunderstorm WindWard-Sheriff reported trees down on hwys 121 and Rocky Creek road.
May 2005HailWard-EM reported nickel size hail in the Ward area.
May 2003Tornado (F0)Ward-An F0 briefly touched down and took some trees down in Ward.

Every storm recorded in Saluda 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
Speigner3.2 miles11
Ridge Spring3.7 miles11
Mobleys Crossroads3.9 miles11
Blacks4.9 miles11
Richland6.8 miles11
Traus (historical)7.7 miles11
Hibernia7.9 miles11
Jones Crossroads8.6 miles11

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 WardAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1946329The 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 1251321. 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.