BlockBefore

Early, Texas

20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the Brownwood census division. It lies in ZIP code area 76802. The Survey maps it on the Brownwood quadrangle. 3,087 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,414 feet above sea level.

Early within Brown County

Population over time

2 figures

Early grew from 2,762 to 3,087 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
20102,762
20203,087+325 (+12%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 20 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.

What the histories say of this town

477,955 words

2 chapters about Early from the published histories of the county, public domain and reproduced complete.

ChapterFrom Length
HistoryA History of Early Methodism in Texas [microform] (1924)162,245 words in 11 parts
Trail Drivers of Texas : Interesting Sketches of Early Cowboys and TheTrail Drivers of Texas : Interesting Sketches of Early Cowboys and Their Experiences on the Range and on the Trail During the Days That Tried Men's Souls -- True Narratives Related by Real Cow-punchers and Men Who Fathered the Cattle Industry in Texas (1925)315,710 words in 20 parts

Fires near this place

81 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 81 fires within 5 miles of Early between 2005 and 2020, burning about 1,413 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 3 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined34
Debris and open burning19
Equipment and vehicle use13
Smoking4
Railroad operations and maintenance3
Power generation/transmission/distribution3
Arson/incendiarism3
Natural2

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
3 September 2011Debris and open burningunder an acreTexas A & M Forest ServiceHUDSON
25 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined4.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceGRASS FIRE279
25 September 2012Arson/incendiarism4.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceALDERSGATE ENRICHMENT CENTER
25 September 2008Railroad operations and maintenance2.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
22 September 2006Equipment and vehicle use10 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
8 August 2016Equipment and vehicle use20 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceAIRPORT 4659
5 August 2014Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceBANGS HILL (7136)
27 August 2014Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceSPRING (7156)

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Brown County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Early: 3 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Limestone, General, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Brownwood Pit Plant Texas Brick CoClayProducer
Brownwood QuarryLimestone, GeneralProducerSedimentary
White's Mines Brownwood QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer

Every working recorded in Brown County

Storms near this place

26 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Early in 26 storm reports between 1993 and 2024: 12 hail, 9 thunderstorm wind, 4 flash flood, 1 tornado. 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
May 1994Tornado (F0)Early$50,000A tornado heavily damaged a building on Highway 377.
April 1993Thunderstorm WindEarly$50,000Considerable roof damage occurred at the Early High School, and a small plane was destroyed by high winds at a private airport.
April 2007Thunderstorm WindEarly$13,000The high winds blew a large tree onto a house and the strong winds downed power lines.
April 2000Thunderstorm WindEarly$5,000Thunderstorm winds destroyed several outbuildings in the town on Early.
June 1998Thunderstorm WindEarly$5,000Trees were blown down and a railroad crossing barrier snapped off
May 2024HailEarly-Public reported quarter size hail.
May 2023HailEarly-The public reported tennis ball size hail 1 mile north of Early. The report was from mping.
April 2021Thunderstorm WindEarly-Damaging thunderstorm winds peeled a roof off a mobile home and produced minor damage to three other mobile homes. Also, doors were blown out of an airport hangar.
October 2021Thunderstorm WindEarly-A large tree was blown down onto power lines on County Road 381 near Early. The time was estimated on radar.
May 2016HailEarly-A trained spotter reported quarter size hail in Early.
July 2015Flash FloodEarly-U.S. Highway 377 just south of Brownwood was shut down because of widespread flooding across the roadway.
May 2015Thunderstorm WindEarly-The public estimated a thunderstorm wind gust of 65 mph in Early.
June 2011HailEarly-A trained spotter reported that the hail lasted about 5 minutes.
May 2009Thunderstorm WindEarly-The town of Early experienced widespread wind damage on the east side of town. There were several trees toppled and many limbs were broken off. A few businesses and residences lost their roofs. Most of the debris was oriented from northeast to southwest which is consistent with straight line wind damage. The wind speeds were esitmated between 80 to 85 mph.
June 2009Flash FloodEarly-Flooding was reported near the intersection of US Highways 67 and 377 in Early.
June 2004Flash FloodEarly-The town of Early had to close several roads due to high water.
August 2004Flash FloodEarly-Many farm to market roads across Brown County were reported flooded. FM2273 near Hog Creek had 2 feet of water over the road.
June 2001HailEarly-Golf ball size hail fell across central Brown County.
May 1994HailEarly-Power line poles were blown down by thunderstorm winds.
April 2019HailEarly-no account filed
May 2015HailEarly-no account filed
April 2007HailEarly-no account filed
April 2004HailEarly-no account filed
June 2004Thunderstorm WindEarly-no account filed
November 2004HailEarly-no account filed
April 1994HailEarly-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Brown 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
Ricker (historical)3.2 miles20
Brownwood3.3 miles20
Bluff View3.7 miles14
Woodland Heights4.5 miles20
Delaware Junction5.1 miles14
Lake Brownwood7.3 miles17
Owens7.4 miles14
Tenmile Crossing7.8 miles20

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 EarlyAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q982657The 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 1334865. 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.