Crystal City, Texas
10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1939 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Crystal City census division. It lies in ZIP code area 78839. The Survey maps it on the Crystal City quadrangle. 6,354 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 558 feet above sea level.
On record in Crystal City
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 1 record
Crystal City Internment Camplisted 2014
Population over time
2 figuresCrystal City fell from 7,138 to 6,354 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 | 7,138 | |
| 2020 | 6,354 | -784 (-11%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 10 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.
- 1939 USGS Carrizo Springs quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1953 USGS Crystal City quadrangle1:250000
- 1955 USGS Crystal City quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Crystal City quadrangle1:250000
- 1968 USGS Crystal City quadrangle1:250000
- 1972 USGS Crystal City quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS Crystal City quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
114 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 114 fires within 5 miles of Crystal City between 2005 and 2020, burning about 345 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 4 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 | 47 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 34 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 13 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 7 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 4 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 4 |
| Natural | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2011 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | FM 582 RIVER LOTS |
| 5 September 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | FM 582 |
| 20 September 2016 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | HIKE AND BIKE BRUSH |
| 18 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | EXPOSITION GROUNDS |
| 17 September 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.6 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | STARR |
| 16 September 2019 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | OLD UVALDE HWY |
| 20 August 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | RIVER LOTS FIRE |
| 18 August 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | FM 191 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
22 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Crystal City in 22 storm reports between 1995 and 2023: 8 hail, 8 flash flood, 6 thunderstorm wind. The reports record 2 injuries. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2004 | Hail | Crystal City | 1 hurt, $500,000 | A line of strong thunderstorms had stuck Crystal City near 1240 pm CST. Although individual storms were moving toward the northeast, the line appeared to be moving to the southeast. The downburst winds were all discharged toward the southwest, as all damage around Crystal City area was blown in that direction. Damage was severe in Crystal City. Leaves had been shredded from trees and plastered onto the sides of the cars and houses, and streets were covered with the shredded leaves. Homes had damage to their outside walls, roofs, and windows. What was shocking was to see the piles of semi-melted hail still as high as 2 feet in some of the drifts created by the flooding. In spite of the fact that the hail had been melting for over 24 hours when the survey was made, it was still piled in spotty waves across the city from east to west and north to south. Hail was reported to have been as large as 1.5 to 2 inches in diameter, with a couple of reports of hail to 3 inches. The high winds, combined with hail and rain, caused widespread damage to homes, destroying two mobile homes and the roofs of two houses. Several dozen homes in Crystal City sustained some type of damage. Some of the worst damage occurred at the library and the H.E.B. grocery store. The metal roof was blown off the library and deposited on the southwest side of the building. The roof of the H.E.B. grocery store collapsed. It appeared to be beneath the area where the air conditioners were positioned on the west side of the store. This is also where the rain and ice would have accumulated the thickest and would possibly have clogged drainage holes. One injury was reported in the storms. |
| June 1999 | Flash Flood | Crystal City | 1 hurt, $40,000 | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Crystal City | $50,000 | Severe thunderstorm winds blew down trees and power poles near Crystal City. |
| May 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Crystal City | $20,000 | Damage was reported to roofs, with numerous trees uprooted. |
| March 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Crystal City | $10,000 | An NWS survey noted that several trees had been knocked down and large limbs were torn out of trees in a very spotty manner from the southwest corner of the county into the town of Crystal City. |
| September 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Crystal City | $10,000 | Severe winds from a thunderstorm caused a pavillion to collapse in Crystal City. |
| August 1996 | Flash Flood | Crystal City | $10,000 | no account filed |
| May 2023 | Hail | Crystal City | $5,000 | A thunderstorm produced hail up to baseball size in Crystal City. The hail destroyed vehicle windshields and windows. |
| March 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Crystal City | $3,000 | Trees were blown down by severe thunderstorm winds. |
| May 2022 | Hail | Crystal City | - | A thunderstorm produced dime to quarter size hail in Crystal City. |
| May 2015 | Flash Flood | Crystal City | - | West Lake Street in Crystal City was reportedly completely flooded. |
| July 2007 | Flash Flood | Crystal City | - | General 2 to 3 inch rain totals were reported over Karnes, Atascosa, Frio, and Zavala Counties. Up to 4 inches fell in the southwest corner of Zavala County. Roads were flooded around Cometa and west of Crystal City. |
| July 2007 | Flash Flood | Crystal City | - | Scattered thunderstorms produced general rain totals of 2 to 3 inches over Kinney, Uvalde, Zavala, Medina, and Frio Counties in the afternoon of July 3, with highest amounts in Zavala County near 5 inches to the northeast of Batesville. FM187, FM1178, and FM1025 were closed. |
| July 2007 | Flash Flood | Crystal City | - | The thunderstorms that developed in Frio County spread westward during the morning into Zavala County, producing generally 2 to 3 inches of rain. The highest totals were at Crystal City where up to 7 inches fell. Widespread flooding developed in and around Crystal City that required the evacuation of about two dozen families. Many of the roads in the Crystal City area were closed through mid-afternoon. |
| May 2007 | Flash Flood | Crystal City | - | Scattered showers and thunderstorms produced general 2 to 3 inch rain amounts in western Dimmit and western Zavala Counties. FM65 was closed east of Crystal City due to high water. |
| May 2007 | Flash Flood | Crystal City | - | Scattered showers and thunderstorms produced general 1 to 2 inch rain amounts in western Zavala County with 3 inches between Crystal City and La Pryor. FM1025 and FM65 were closed due to high water. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Crystal City | - | Severe thunderstorms struck Crystal City, knocking down trees and blowing over power lines. Falling trees damaged several homes and vehicles in the city. Thunderstorm winds caused slightly less damage north of Crystal City, taking off tree limbs in LaPryor and Batesville. Wind gusts there were estimated at 40 to 50 mph. |
| February 1998 | Hail | Crystal City | - | Hail driven by winds of 30 to 40 knots destroyed around 350 acres of onions and cabbage. |
| March 1995 | Hail | Crystal City | - | Widespread car damage reported from large hail in LaPryor. |
| March 1995 | Hail | Crystal City | - | Widespread car damage reported from large hail in LaPryor. |
| April 2007 | Hail | Crystal City | - | no account filed |
| March 1999 | Hail | Crystal City | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Popeye Lake Colonia | 0.8 miles | 10 | |
| La Hacienda Estates Number 2 Colonia | 1.0 miles | 10 | |
| Camposanto-Elcometa Colonia | 1.5 miles | 10 | |
| Bushy Creek Colonia | 1.5 miles | 10 | |
| Chula Vista Colonia | 1.6 miles | 10 | |
| River Spur | 1.8 miles | 10 | |
| Amaya Colonia | 2.3 miles | 10 | |
| Triangula Colonia | 3.1 miles | 10 |
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 Crystal City | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q978199 | 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 1355449. 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.






