Buchanan Dam, Texas
20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1992. It stands in the Llano North census division. It lies in ZIP code area 78609. The Survey maps it on the Kingsland quadrangle. 1,508 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,043 feet above sea level.
Population over time
3 figuresBuchanan Dam fell from 1,688 to 1,508 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 1,688 | |
| 2010 | 1,519 | -169 (-10%) |
| 2020 | 1,508 | -11 (-1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
13 surveys from 20 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.
- 1887 USGS Burnet quadrangle1:125000
- 1893 USGS Burnet quadrangle1:125000
- 1903 USGS Burnet quadrangle1:125000
- 1909 USGS Burnet quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1925 USGS Burnet 3-b quadrangle1:48000
- 1929 USGS Marble Falls quadrangle1:62500
- 1932 USGS Marble Falls quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Llano quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Llano quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Llano quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Kingsland quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1985 USGS Llano quadrangle1:100000
- 1992 USGS Llano quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
122 since 2003Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 122 fires within 5 miles of Buchanan Dam between 2003 and 2020, burning about 2,103 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 7 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 | 64 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 26 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 8 |
| Smoking | 7 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 7 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Natural | 2 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | SLAB FIRE |
| 29 September 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 28 September 2011 | Natural | 2.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | PARK RD 4 (11-0116) |
| 25 September 2013 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | ELLEN WILLIAMS TRACTOR FIRE |
| 20 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | 16-027513 |
| 15 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | HWY 29 (16-0117) |
| 14 September 2006 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 11 September 2016 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | S CHAPARRAL (16-0115) |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
9 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Buchanan Dam: 4 producers, 3 past producers, 1 occurrence, 1 unknown. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, REE, Vermiculite, Stone, Dimension. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Badu Hill Mine | Feldspar, REE | Past Producer | 1936 | |
| Baringer Hill Mine | REE, Feldspar, Fluorine-Fluorite, Zirconium, Beryllium, Lead, Uranium, Titanium, Metal, Thorium, Molybdenum, Lithium, Rubidium, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Copper, Zinc | Past Producer | 1887 | |
| Road Material Pits | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Rose Quarry | Stone, Dimension | Producer | Granite | |
| Cactus Canyon Llano Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Friedsom | Vermiculite | Unknown | ||
| Premier Rose Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Rare-Earth Mine | REE | Past Producer | Gadolinite | |
| Reed Prospect | Vermiculite | Occurrence | Residual |
Storms near this place
14 since 2003Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Buchanan Dam in 14 storm reports between 2003 and 2025: 10 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 flash 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buchanan Dam | $50,000 | Severe thunderstorms winds estimated at 60 knots blew down power lines in eastern Llano County. |
| October 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buchanan Dam | $5,000 | A thunderstorm produced wind gusts estimated at 58 mph that blew over a large shed near Lake Buchanan. |
| May 2025 | Hail | Buchanan Dam | - | A thunderstorm produced half dollar size hail near Buchanan Dam. |
| May 2025 | Hail | Buchanan Dam | - | A thunderstorm produced tennis ball size hail near Buchanan Dam. |
| May 2023 | Hail | Buchanan Dam | - | A thunderstorm produced quarter size hail near Buchanan Dam. |
| January 2020 | Hail | Buchanan Dam | - | A thunderstorm produced quarter size hail near Buchanan Dam. |
| August 2017 | Flash Flood | Buchanan Dam | - | Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that led to flash flooding closing a low water crossing near Inks Lake State Park. |
| February 2013 | Hail | Buchanan Dam | - | A thunderstorm produced hail for 11 minutes. The largest hail was 1.5 inches in diameter. |
| September 2008 | Tornado (EF0) | Buchanan Dam | - | The Llano County sheriff's office and the Lower Colorado River Authority police department reported a water spout over Lake Buchanan in the vicinity of Buchanan Dam. The water spout was short lived and dissipated before reaching land. |
| May 2023 | Hail | Buchanan Dam | - | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Hail | Buchanan Dam | - | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Hail | Buchanan Dam | - | no account filed |
| April 2005 | Hail | Buchanan Dam | - | no account filed |
| February 2004 | Hail | Buchanan Dam | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lakeside Heights | 3.7 miles | 20 | |
| Golden Beach | 4.7 miles | 18 | |
| Kingsland | 5.7 miles | 20 | |
| Bluffton | 6.4 miles | 18 | |
| Gainesville | 6.4 miles | 15 | |
| Stolz | 7.1 miles | 16 | |
| Buchanan Lake Village | 7.7 miles | 18 | |
| Lone Grove | 9.2 miles | 16 |
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 Buchanan Dam | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q977725 | 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 1353114. 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.












