Dorchester, Texas
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1901 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Southwest Grayson census division. It lies in ZIP code area 75459. The Survey maps it on the Dorchester quadrangle. 69 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 866 feet above sea level.
Population over time
3 figuresDorchester fell from 109 to 69 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 | 109 | |
| 2010 | 148 | +39 (+36%) |
| 2020 | 69 | -79 (-53%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 11 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.
- 1901 USGS Denison quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1954 USGS Sherman quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Dorchester quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Sherman quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Sherman quadrangle1:62500
- 1985 USGS Sherman quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
41 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 41 fires within 5 miles of Dorchester between 2005 and 2020, burning about 426 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 1 was 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 21 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 9 |
| Debris and open burning | 7 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 2011 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | RAILROAD |
| 6 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | PRESTON MEADOWS COMMAND |
| 3 September 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | BLUE MOUND ROAD |
| 21 September 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 20 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 902/289 |
| 2 September 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | LAUGHLIN COMMAND |
| 18 September 2011 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | FARMINGTON |
| 14 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 35 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | HYW 289 |
| 14 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | SH 289 GRASSFIRE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
8 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Dorchester: 8 unknowns. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Unknown Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Unknown Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Unknown Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Unknown Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Unknown Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Unknown Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Unknown Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown |
Storms near this place
4 since 2009Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Dorchester in 4 storm reports between 2009 and 2018: 3 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dorchester | $7,000 | A trained spotter estimated 70 mph winds in Dorchester. |
| April 2018 | Hail | Dorchester | - | Amateur radio reported half-dollar sized hail in the city of Dorchester, TX. |
| March 2017 | Hail | Dorchester | - | no account filed |
| March 2017 | Hail | Dorchester | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sperry | 1.0 miles | 11 | |
| Mormon Grove (historical) | 2.2 miles | 11 | |
| Elm View | 3.5 miles | 7 | |
| Howe | 4.4 miles | 12 | |
| Hilton | 4.6 miles | 12 | |
| Farmington | 4.8 miles | 7 | |
| Gunter | 6.5 miles | 7 | |
| Tribune | 7.0 miles | 12 |
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 Dorchester | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q979356 | 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 1356164. 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.





