BlockBefore

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.

Overton within Rusk County

Population over time

2 figures

Overton 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.

YearPeople Change
20102,554
20202,275-279 (-11%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 15 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

424 since 1992

Regional 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 burning166
Missing data/not specified/undetermined103
Power generation/transmission/distribution56
Arson/incendiarism38
Railroad operations and maintenance21
Equipment and vehicle use17
Natural9
Smoking7
Recreation and ceremony4
Fireworks2
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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 2011Natural20 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceHENDERSON - 511
9 September 2011Power generation/transmission/distribution295 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceHENDERSON - 533
9 September 1997Debris and open burning25 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
8 September 2013Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service153-D COMMAND
7 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceHENDERSON - 517
7 September 2008Debris and open burningunder an acreTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
5 September 2011Power generation/transmission/distribution400 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceHENDERSON - 505
4 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTexas A & M Forest Service135 S

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Rusk County

Storms near this place

34 since 1993

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
April 2017Tornado (EF1)Overton$25,000This 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 1994Thunderstorm WindOverton$5,000Trees were blown down by high winds.
May 1994Thunderstorm WindOverton$5,000Trees were blown down by thunderstorm winds.
April 2025Thunderstorm WindOverton-Trees were blown down in Overton.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindOverton-Multiple trees downed in Overton.
June 2024Thunderstorm WindOverton-Trees downed on FM 2089 south of Overton.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindOverton-Multiple trees downed on Ward Street and Sunset Street in Overton.
April 2020Thunderstorm WindOverton-A pine tree was blown down across FM 3053 near County Road 1110.
April 2020Thunderstorm WindOverton-A tree was blown down on FM 850 just east of Overton.
April 2020Thunderstorm WindOverton-A tree was blown down on Highway 135 just northeast of Overton.
March 2019Thunderstorm WindOverton-Trees and power lines were downed in Overton.
May 2019Thunderstorm WindOverton-Trees were blown down on County Road 126, as well as County Road 124.
May 2019Flash FloodOverton-FM 2089 just south of Overton was flooded with nearly one foot of water over the roadway.
April 2018Thunderstorm WindOverton-A power line was downed on Highway 323 just outside of Overton.
April 2016Flash FloodOverton-Highway 323 from Highway 135 to just east of Farm to Market Road 1513 was closed due to flooding.
June 2015HailOverton-Dime to penny sized hail was reported in Overton, Texas.
August 2012Thunderstorm WindOverton-A large tree and powerlines were downed north of Overton, Texas on CR. 1111.
May 2008Thunderstorm WindOverton-Power outages as a result of trees down on powerlines throughout the northern portion of Rusk County.
March 2005Thunderstorm WindOverton-Powerlines downed near a school on State Highway 42.
March 2005Thunderstorm WindOverton-Powerlines were downed.
May 1999Thunderstorm WindOverton-Winds recorded by trained spotter.
January 1999Thunderstorm WindOverton-Several large trees down.
October 1998Flash FloodOverton-Automobile washed off county road 1639. Driver was rescued unhurt.
January 1998Funnel CloudOverton-Funnel cloud reported briefly by spotter over north Overton.
November 1995Thunderstorm WindOverton-Reports of power lines down.
May 1994HailOverton-Trees were blown down by thunderstorm winds.
May 1993Thunderstorm WindOverton-Numerous trees blown down by thunderstorm winds.
January 2010HailOverton-no account filed
March 2009HailOverton-no account filed
February 2009HailOverton-no account filed
April 1999HailOverton-no account filed
April 1996HailOverton-no account filed
May 1994HailOverton-no account filed
April 1993HailOverton-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Rusk 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
Sexton City3.1 miles15
New London3.2 miles13
London3.5 miles13
Old London3.8 miles13
Leverett's Chapel3.9 miles15
Red Level4.6 miles15
Friars4.9 miles13
Selman City5.9 miles13

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 OvertonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q942075The 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.