Orchard, Texas
10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1950 and the latest in 1992. It stands in the Orchard-Kendleton census division. It lies in ZIP code area 77464. The Survey maps it on the Orchard quadrangle. 313 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 125 feet above sea level.
Population over time
3 figuresOrchard fell from 408 to 313 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 | 408 | |
| 2010 | 352 | -56 (-14%) |
| 2020 | 313 | -39 (-11%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 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
- 1955 USGS Richmond quadrangle1:62500
- 1956 USGS Houston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1971 USGS Orchard quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1975 USGS Houston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1992 USGS Houston quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
3 since 2009Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of Orchard between 2009 and 2011, burning about 254 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2 |
| Debris and open burning | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 May 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | GRASS FIRE |
| 17 February 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | GRASS FIRE |
| 13 January 2009 | Debris and open burning | 100 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 09-0000014 |
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 Orchard: 3 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orchard Dome Mine | Sulfur, Halite, Limestone, Ultra Pure | Past Producer | 1929, 1938, 1970 | |
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
8 since 1999Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Orchard in 8 storm reports between 1999 and 2019: 5 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Orchard | $35,000 | Report of large tree limbs down and structural damage to a near one ton fort. |
| May 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Orchard | $25,000 | Reports of significant damage to a mobile home, a barn blown over, and power poles blown down. |
| February 1999 | Hail | Orchard | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Orchard | $7,000 | There was roof damage to a home. |
| September 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Orchard | $5,000 | Severe thunderstorm winds downed numerous trees and power lines in and around Orchard and Simonton. Some car damage was reported from these storms. |
| April 2003 | Hail | Orchard | $2,000 | no account filed |
| April 2009 | Funnel Cloud | Orchard | - | A funnel cloud was sighted and reported to persist for approximately two minutes. |
| May 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Orchard | - | At least 12,000 acres of crops destroyed by hail and high winds. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tavener | 4.5 miles | 10 | |
| Simonton | 5.2 miles | 9 | |
| Pleasant Hill | 5.4 miles | 9 | |
| Weston Lakes | 5.7 miles | 9 | |
| Fulshear | 7.0 miles | 9 | |
| McHattie | 7.8 miles | 9 | |
| Beasley | 7.9 miles | 9 | |
| Foster | 8.0 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 Orchard | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q981681 | 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 1343307. 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.





