Fairchilds, Texas
10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1950 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Needville census division. It lies in ZIP code area 77461. The Survey maps it on the Needville quadrangle. 864 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 79 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresFairchilds grew from 763 to 864 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 | 763 | |
| 2020 | 864 | +101 (+13%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 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.
- 1950 USGS Houston quadrangle1:250000
- 1953 USGS Needville quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1956 USGS Houston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1975 USGS Houston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1984 USGS Angleton quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
48 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 48 fires within 5 miles of Fairchilds between 2006 and 2020, burning about 161 acres in total. None started naturally. None 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 25 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 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 2019 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | MEGAN DRIVE |
| 28 September 2012 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | GRASS FIRE |
| 9 August 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | HAND ROAD |
| 26 August 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | GRASS FIRE |
| 2 August 2012 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | GRASS FIRE |
| 12 August 2011 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | GRASS FIRE |
| 26 July 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | HAND ROAD |
| 26 July 2017 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | JANDA ROAD |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Fairchilds: 2 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sulfur, Halite, Limestone, Ultra Pure. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Creek Mine | Sulfur, Halite, Limestone, Ultra Pure | Past Producer | 1922, 1925 | |
| Jefferson Lake Sulphur | Sulfur | Producer | ||
| Long Point Dome | Sulfur | Past Producer | 1924, 1930 |
Storms near this place
4 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Fairchilds in 4 storm reports between 1996 and 2024: 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 funnel cloud. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fairchilds | $200,000 | no account filed |
| May 1999 | Tornado (F1) | Fairchilds | $100,000 | Tornado along FM 361 near Fairchilds about 2 miles west of intersection of FM 1994 and FM 1852. Power lines and power poles downed, barn damaged and trees uprooted. |
| June 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fairchilds | $5,000 | Law enforcement reported downed power lines due to strong thunderstorm wind gusts. |
| August 2024 | Funnel Cloud | Fairchilds | - | A funnel cloud was observed. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Long Point | 3.8 miles | 10 | |
| Needville | 3.8 miles | 10 | |
| Pleak | 4.2 miles | 10 | |
| Whaley Corner | 5.7 miles | 10 | |
| Guy | 6.0 miles | 11 | |
| Bridlewood Estates | 7.9 miles | 11 | |
| Crabb | 8.3 miles | 11 | |
| McHattie | 8.4 miles | 9 |
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 Fairchilds | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2140781 | 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 1378280. 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.




