Bells, Texas
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the East Grayson census division. It lies in ZIP code area 75414. The Survey maps it on the Whitewright quadrangle. 1,521 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 689 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresBells grew from 1,392 to 1,521 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 | 1,392 | |
| 2020 | 1,521 | +129 (+9%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 7 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.
- 1954 USGS Sherman quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Sherman quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Whitesright quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1984 USGS Whitewright quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Sherman quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
69 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 69 fires within 5 miles of Bells between 2005 and 2020, burning about 652 acres in total. None 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 35 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 23 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 7 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 September 2011 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | SEARS FIRE |
| 4 September 2012 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 2012087 |
| 24 September 2012 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 2012097 |
| 2 September 2011 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | ARKANSAS FIRE |
| 19 September 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 12 September 2011 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | SAVOY FIRE |
| 5 August 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | GF |
| 28 August 2010 | Debris and open burning | 4.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | BLOCK FIRE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
17 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bells in 17 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 11 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 1 flood. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bells | $5,000 | High winds damaged a mobile home roof and blew trees down. |
| May 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bells | $2,000 | Two large trees were knocked down south of Bells. One tree fell on a horse trailer damaging the roof the trailer. |
| June 2015 | Flash Flood | Bells | $2,000 | US 69 near Bells was closed due to high water. |
| March 2025 | Hail | Bells | - | A trained spotter reported nickel sized hail 1 mile southeast of Bells. |
| March 2025 | Hail | Bells | - | Emergency management reported ping pong ball sized hail in Bells. |
| March 2024 | Hail | Bells | - | Trained spotter measured 3/4-inch hail 3 miles south of Bells. |
| May 2021 | Hail | Bells | - | A public report indicated ping pong ball sized hail about a mile west-southwest of Bells, TX. |
| May 2021 | Hail | Bells | - | A public report indicated quarter sized hail about a mile west of Bells, TX. |
| May 2021 | Hail | Bells | - | A public report indicated half-dollar sized hail about a mile west-southwest of Bells , TX. |
| April 2017 | Flood | Bells | - | Bells Police Department reported a foot of water across the intersection of Broadway and Hwy 56, forcing them to close the road. |
| August 2015 | Hail | Bells | - | Quarter to half dollar sized hail between Sherman and Bells. |
| March 2011 | Hail | Bells | - | Nickel size hail fell in the city of Bells. |
| November 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bells | - | Small trees and several power lines were blown down by thunderstorm winds in Bells. |
| April 2005 | Hail | Bells | - | Quarter size hail covering the ground. |
| June 1999 | Flash Flood | Bells | - | Thunderstorm rains created high water across an underpass of U.S. 82. |
| April 2005 | Hail | Bells | - | no account filed |
| April 1995 | Hail | Bells | - | no account filed |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canaan | 3.9 miles | 7 | |
| Whiterock | 4.6 miles | 7 | |
| Ida | 4.9 miles | 7 | |
| Smith Oaks | 5.1 miles | 7 | |
| Penland | 5.1 miles | 7 | |
| Terrace | 5.3 miles | 7 | |
| Ambrose | 5.7 miles | 7 | |
| Kentucky Town | 6.3 miles | 7 |
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 Bells | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q981977 | 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 1351851. 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.




