Overton, Texas
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1936 and the latest in 1986. It stands in the Overton census division. It lies in ZIP code area 75684. The Survey maps it on the Kilgore SW quadrangle. 2,275 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 502 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresOverton fell from 2,554 to 2,275 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 | 2,554 | |
| 2020 | 2,275 | -279 (-11%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 15 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.
- 1936 USGS Kilgore quadrangle1:48000
- 1936 USGS Kilgore quadrangle1:62500
- 1940 USGS Kilgore quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Tyler quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1971 USGS Kilgore SW quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Tyler quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1986 USGS Henderson quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
424 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 424 fires within 5 miles of Overton between 1992 and 2020, burning about 3,668 acres in total. 9 started naturally. 38 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 166 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 103 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 56 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 38 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 21 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 17 |
| Natural | 9 |
| Smoking | 7 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| Fireworks | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 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 2011 | Natural | 20 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | HENDERSON - 511 |
| 9 September 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 295 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | HENDERSON - 533 |
| 9 September 1997 | Debris and open burning | 25 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 8 September 2013 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 153-D COMMAND |
| 7 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | HENDERSON - 517 |
| 7 September 2008 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 5 September 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 400 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | HENDERSON - 505 |
| 4 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | 135 S |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
34 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Overton in 34 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 20 thunderstorm wind, 9 hail, 3 flash flood, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2017 | Tornado (EF1) | Overton | $25,000 | This is a continuation of the EF-0 tornado from eastern Smith County that touched down just west of the Overton city limits. This tornado intensified to an EF-1 as it crossed into the Overton community in Western Rusk County, with maximum estimated winds between 95-105 mph. Several trees were snapped and uprooted with some minor shingle damage occurring to one home. The most concentrated damage was found near the Overton School complex and in the adjacent cemetery along Farm to Market Road 850 before lifting along County Road 128. |
| October 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Overton | $5,000 | Trees were blown down by high winds. |
| May 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Overton | $5,000 | Trees were blown down by thunderstorm winds. |
| April 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Overton | - | Trees were blown down in Overton. |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Overton | - | Multiple trees downed in Overton. |
| June 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Overton | - | Trees downed on FM 2089 south of Overton. |
| May 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Overton | - | Multiple trees downed on Ward Street and Sunset Street in Overton. |
| April 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Overton | - | A pine tree was blown down across FM 3053 near County Road 1110. |
| April 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Overton | - | A tree was blown down on FM 850 just east of Overton. |
| April 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Overton | - | A tree was blown down on Highway 135 just northeast of Overton. |
| March 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Overton | - | Trees and power lines were downed in Overton. |
| May 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Overton | - | Trees were blown down on County Road 126, as well as County Road 124. |
| May 2019 | Flash Flood | Overton | - | FM 2089 just south of Overton was flooded with nearly one foot of water over the roadway. |
| April 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Overton | - | A power line was downed on Highway 323 just outside of Overton. |
| April 2016 | Flash Flood | Overton | - | Highway 323 from Highway 135 to just east of Farm to Market Road 1513 was closed due to flooding. |
| June 2015 | Hail | Overton | - | Dime to penny sized hail was reported in Overton, Texas. |
| August 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Overton | - | A large tree and powerlines were downed north of Overton, Texas on CR. 1111. |
| May 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Overton | - | Power outages as a result of trees down on powerlines throughout the northern portion of Rusk County. |
| March 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Overton | - | Powerlines downed near a school on State Highway 42. |
| March 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Overton | - | Powerlines were downed. |
| May 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Overton | - | Winds recorded by trained spotter. |
| January 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Overton | - | Several large trees down. |
| October 1998 | Flash Flood | Overton | - | Automobile washed off county road 1639. Driver was rescued unhurt. |
| January 1998 | Funnel Cloud | Overton | - | Funnel cloud reported briefly by spotter over north Overton. |
| November 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Overton | - | Reports of power lines down. |
| May 1994 | Hail | Overton | - | Trees were blown down by thunderstorm winds. |
| May 1993 | Thunderstorm Wind | Overton | - | Numerous trees blown down by thunderstorm winds. |
| January 2010 | Hail | Overton | - | no account filed |
| March 2009 | Hail | Overton | - | no account filed |
| February 2009 | Hail | Overton | - | no account filed |
| April 1999 | Hail | Overton | - | no account filed |
| April 1996 | Hail | Overton | - | no account filed |
| May 1994 | Hail | Overton | - | no account filed |
| April 1993 | Hail | Overton | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sexton City | 3.1 miles | 15 | |
| New London | 3.2 miles | 13 | |
| London | 3.5 miles | 13 | |
| Old London | 3.8 miles | 13 | |
| Leverett's Chapel | 3.9 miles | 15 | |
| Red Level | 4.6 miles | 15 | |
| Friars | 4.9 miles | 13 | |
| Selman City | 5.9 miles | 13 |
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 Overton | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q942075 | 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 1343370. 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.
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.






