BlockBefore

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.

Bells within Grayson County

Population over time

2 figures

Bells 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.

YearPeople Change
20101,392
20201,521+129 (+9%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 7 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

69 since 2005

Regional 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 burning35
Missing data/not specified/undetermined23
Equipment and vehicle use7
Arson/incendiarism2
Smoking1
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
5 September 2011Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceSEARS FIRE
4 September 2012Debris and open burning2.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service2012087
24 September 2012Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service2012097
2 September 2011Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceARKANSAS FIRE
19 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
12 September 2011Debris and open burning2.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceSAVOY FIRE
5 August 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTexas A & M Forest ServiceGF
28 August 2010Debris and open burning4.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceBLOCK FIRE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Grayson County

Storms near this place

17 since 1995

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2003Thunderstorm WindBells$5,000High winds damaged a mobile home roof and blew trees down.
May 2021Thunderstorm WindBells$2,000Two large trees were knocked down south of Bells. One tree fell on a horse trailer damaging the roof the trailer.
June 2015Flash FloodBells$2,000US 69 near Bells was closed due to high water.
March 2025HailBells-A trained spotter reported nickel sized hail 1 mile southeast of Bells.
March 2025HailBells-Emergency management reported ping pong ball sized hail in Bells.
March 2024HailBells-Trained spotter measured 3/4-inch hail 3 miles south of Bells.
May 2021HailBells-A public report indicated ping pong ball sized hail about a mile west-southwest of Bells, TX.
May 2021HailBells-A public report indicated quarter sized hail about a mile west of Bells, TX.
May 2021HailBells-A public report indicated half-dollar sized hail about a mile west-southwest of Bells , TX.
April 2017FloodBells-Bells Police Department reported a foot of water across the intersection of Broadway and Hwy 56, forcing them to close the road.
August 2015HailBells-Quarter to half dollar sized hail between Sherman and Bells.
March 2011HailBells-Nickel size hail fell in the city of Bells.
November 2011Thunderstorm WindBells-Small trees and several power lines were blown down by thunderstorm winds in Bells.
April 2005HailBells-Quarter size hail covering the ground.
June 1999Flash FloodBells-Thunderstorm rains created high water across an underpass of U.S. 82.
April 2005HailBells-no account filed
April 1995HailBells-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Grayson 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
Canaan3.9 miles7
Whiterock4.6 miles7
Ida4.9 miles7
Smith Oaks5.1 miles7
Penland5.1 miles7
Terrace5.3 miles7
Ambrose5.7 miles7
Kentucky Town6.3 miles7

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 BellsAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q981977The 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.