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Morris Ranch, Texas

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1894 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Harper census division. It lies in ZIP code area 78624. It stands on Spring Creek. The Survey maps it on the Morris Ranch quadrangle. It stands 1,742 feet above sea level.

Morris Ranch within Gillespie County

On record in Morris Ranch

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 within a mile 1 record

The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 11 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

70 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 70 fires within 5 miles of Morris Ranch between 2005 and 2020, burning about 594 acres in total. 2 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 burning39
Missing data/not specified/undetermined23
Equipment and vehicle use3
Recreation and ceremony3
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
9 September 2008Debris and open burning10 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
9 September 2005Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
4 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined10 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceFM 2093 & WHITE OAK RD.
4 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceUSENER RD
28 September 2006Debris and open burning2.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
23 September 2005Recreation and ceremony2.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
22 September 2006Debris and open burning5.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
13 September 2010Debris and open burning2.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceSIRACUSA 2 ACRE FIRE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Gillespie County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Morris Ranch: 1 producer. All of them still produce. 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Mollendorf and Son Sand PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Gillespie County

Storms near this place

11 since 2011

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Morris Ranch in 11 storm reports between 2011 and 2023: 6 hail, 4 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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
March 2020Flash FloodMorris Ranch1 killed, $10,000At 9:26 p.m. CDT Saturday, March 21, the Gillespie County Sheriff's Office and Fredericksburg Fire EMS responded to a report of a vehicle that had been swept away by fast-moving water at the Pedernales River crossing on Alfred Petsch Road. Upon arrival, it was determined that there had been four occupants in a vehicle, ages 36, 15, 14, and 13. Three people made it out of the vehicle safely but the 14-year-old was missing. Shortly after 11 p.m. CDT, the girl was located in the water about a mile from where the vehicle was. Emergency personnel began CPR and transported her to Hill Country Memorial Hospital where she was later pronounced dead.
June 2023HailMorris Ranch-A thunderstorm produced four inch diameter hail along Hwy 16 in the southwestern corner of Gillespie County. Twitter had multiple pictures of similar size hail in this area.
May 2020Thunderstorm WindMorris Ranch-A thunderstorm produced wind gusts estimated at 80 mph near Morris Ranch.
May 2019Flash FloodMorris Ranch-Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that led to flash flooding. Hwy 16 was closed due to the flooding along the Pedernales River southwest of Fredericksburg.
October 2018Flash FloodMorris Ranch-Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that led to flash flooding closing FM 2093 along the Pedernales River.
April 2015HailMorris Ranch-Golf ball size hail among mostly quarter sized hail was reported north of Morris Ranch by local broadcast media.
September 2013Flash FloodMorris Ranch-There was two feet of water over the roadway at low water crossing on Alfred Petsch Rd near the Pedernales River. The road was closed due to high water at the low water crossing at Pfiester Rd near the Pedernales River.
March 2011HailMorris Ranch-A thunderstorm produced quarter size hail that shredded leaves. Smaller hail fell for 15 minutes.
March 2011HailMorris Ranch-A thunderstorm produced golf ball size hail. This storm also produced quarter size hail four miles west of Fredericksburg.
March 2011HailMorris Ranch-A thunderstorm produced quarter size hail on Tivydale Road which broke the observer's rain gauge.
March 2011HailMorris Ranch-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Gillespie 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
Tivydale5.2 miles11
Fredericksburg8.4 miles12
Cain City10.7 miles11
Grapetown11.3 miles11
Rocky Hill11.6 miles11
Cherry Mountain12.4 miles11
Hilltop12.7 miles11
Harper13.6 miles11

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 Morris RanchAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q6913862The 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 1341940. 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.