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Alton, Texas

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1940 and the latest in 2002. It stands in the Mission census division. It lies in ZIP code area 78573. The Survey maps it on the Alton quadrangle. 18,198 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 161 feet above sea level.

Alton within Hidalgo County

Population over time

2 figures

Alton grew from 12,341 to 18,198 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
201012,341
202018,198+5,857 (+47%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 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

198 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 198 fires within 5 miles of Alton between 2002 and 2016, burning about 1,010 acres in total. None started naturally. 36 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/undetermined83
Debris and open burning72
Arson/incendiarism36
Equipment and vehicle use5
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Other causes1

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 2009Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSouth Texas Refuge ComplexLUNCH
7 September 2005Debris and open burningunder an acreSouth Texas Refuge ComplexBENTSEN PILE
28 September 2010Debris and open burningunder an acreSouth Texas Refuge ComplexLA HOMA RD
28 September 2005Debris and open burningunder an acreSouth Texas Refuge ComplexDOFFING
25 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceBRYAN RD FIRE
11 September 2004Debris and open burning1.0 acresSouth Texas Refuge Complex1 1/2 MILE
9 August 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceMINNESOTA FIRE 5 MILE
9 August 2003Arson/incendiarism25 acresSouth Texas Refuge ComplexBENTSEN PALM

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Hidalgo 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 Alton: 3 producers, 1 unknown. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
BleakleySand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Hawkins PitStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
J-2 PitStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
J-2 QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducerCaliche

Every working recorded in Hidalgo 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
Armstrong's Alton Colonia0.1 miles11
Salas Colonia0.2 miles11
Trosper Road Colonia0.5 miles11
Aloha Village Colonia0.5 miles11
Tierra Estates Number 2 Colonia0.5 miles11
Nuevo Alton Colonia0.6 miles11
Dude Hill Colonia Number 20.6 miles11
Rancho Chaparral Colonia0.8 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 AltonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q980543The 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 1329468. 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.