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Chester, Texas

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1992. It stands in the Colmesneil-Chester census division. It lies in ZIP code area 75936. It stands on Dry Creek. The Survey maps it on the Chester quadrangle. 270 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 246 feet above sea level.

Chester within Tyler County

Population over time

3 figures

Chester grew from 265 to 270 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
2000265
2010312+47 (+18%)
2020270-42 (-13%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 12 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

38 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 38 fires within 5 miles of Chester between 1992 and 2020, burning about 281 acres in total. 5 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 burning16
Missing data/not specified/undetermined7
Natural5
Smoking4
Arson/incendiarism2
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Equipment and vehicle use1
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
9 September 2011Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceLIVINGSTON - 879
5 September 2005Smoking7.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceWOODVILLE - 189
4 September 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceWOODVILLE - 311
4 September 2005Debris and open burning35 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceWOODVILLE - 185
11 September 2019Naturalunder an acreTexas A & M Forest ServicePOLK 19:55
6 August 2010Debris and open burning18 acresLivingston AreaLIVINGSTON - 254
6 August 2002Debris and open burning5.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceWOODVILLE - 172
5 August 1998Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Tyler County

Storms near this place

27 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Chester in 27 storm reports between 1994 and 2026: 14 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 5 flash flood, 1 heavy rain. The reports record 1 death. 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
August 2017Flash FloodChester1 killed, $60,000,000Harvey produced 20 to 30 inches of rain which flooded 1,730 homes. Major flooding occurred in Warren, Fred, and along the Neches River where it had the 4th highest crest at Town Bluff. 1 death was a result of the flooding.
October 2009Flash FloodChester$10,000TXDOT reported FM 1745 was flooded near the Tyler/Polk County line west of Chester.
February 1998Thunderstorm WindChester$10,000no account filed
June 1997Thunderstorm WindChester$10,000no account filed
April 2023HailChester$5,000Dime to Quarter sized hail damaged vents, AC units, broke a window in a church, and damaged wood siding.
May 2008Thunderstorm WindChester$5,000Trees were blown down near FM 1745.
March 2000Thunderstorm WindChester$5,000no account filed
May 1994HailChester$5,000no account filed
April 2023Thunderstorm WindChester$2,000Trees were downed and or snapped along FM 1745.
June 2004Thunderstorm WindChester$2,000no account filed
January 2020Thunderstorm WindChester$1,000Power lines were downed by winds along Highway 287 west of Chester.
March 2026HailChester-Hail of 1.25 inches was reported from Chester.
May 2024Flash FloodChester-Russel Creek flooded FM 1745 during a heavy thunderstorm. Roads also began to flood near Colmesneil.
May 2024HailChester-Pictures were received through social media of hail over two inches in diameter.
April 2023HailChester-The Tyler County Emergency Manager reported 1 inch hail in Chester.
July 2015HailChester-A Co-Op observer near Chester reported hail to one inch in diameter.
October 2014HailChester-Golf ball size hail was reported around one mile southeast of Chester.
October 2013Heavy RainChester-Heavy rain caused minor flooding of FM 1745 at Russel Creek and at Billiums Creek in the Chester area.
April 2009Flash FloodChester-Tyler County Sheriff Office reported major flooding along Highway 1745 near Chester.
May 2009Flash FloodChester-Tyler County Sheriff Office reported several roads covered by high water across the county.
May 1995HailChester-Early morning thunderstorm produced nickle-size hail in ,,Chester.
May 1995HailChester-Three-quarter inch hail reported in Chester from thunderstorm activity. The thunderstorm complex produced in excess of five inches of rain over Tyler, Jasper, and Newton Counties. A flash flood warning was issued for these three counties.
April 2017HailChester-no account filed
May 2005HailChester-no account filed
February 2003HailChester-no account filed
November 2001HailChester-no account filed
March 1999HailChester-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Tyler 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
Peach Tree Village1.6 miles12
Dies Community7.2 miles12
Colmesneil9.3 miles12
Cima10.4 miles12
Doucette11.6 miles12
Magnolia Hills12.0 miles12
Haralson Lakes12.0 miles12
Rockland12.9 miles16

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 ChesterAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q974292The 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 1354374. 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.