Penelope, Texas
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Malone-Penelope census division. It lies in ZIP code area 76676. The Survey maps it on the Penelope quadrangle. 180 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 568 feet above sea level.
Population over time
3 figuresPenelope fell from 211 to 180 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 | 211 | |
| 2010 | 198 | -13 (-6%) |
| 2020 | 180 | -18 (-9%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 7 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.
- 1954 USGS Waco quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Waco quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Penelope quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS Mexia quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
186 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 186 fires within 5 miles of Penelope between 2005 and 2020, burning about 1,252 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 6 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 | 70 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 66 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 33 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 6 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 5 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Other causes | 2 |
| Natural | 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 | Other causes | 4.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | GRASS FIRE REKINDLE |
| 9 September 2019 | Other causes | 30 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | HUBBARD GRASS AND STRUCTURE FIRE |
| 9 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | GRASS FIRE |
| 9 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | GRASS FIRE |
| 8 September 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | POWER LINE |
| 7 September 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | MATSON BOTTOM REKINDEL |
| 7 September 2012 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | GRASS FIRE |
| 6 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | MUTUAL AID STAND BY |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
4 since 2004Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Penelope in 4 storm reports between 2004 and 2014: 2 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind. 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 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Penelope | $60,000 | Numerous trees and power poles were reported down in the southeast corner of Hill County from Penelope to Hubbard. Several trees were also reported down along 171 south of Hubbard. Some of the downed trees blocked county roads. In Hubbard, a large glass window at a business was blown out, a few tree limbs fell on cars causing damage, and some sheet metal was wrapped around a utility pole. |
| October 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Penelope | $1,000 | A trained spotter reported large tree limbs and small trees down, and some out-buildings destroyed on HCR 3315 in Hubbard, TX. |
| April 2011 | Hail | Penelope | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Penelope | - | 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.
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 Penelope | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q982202 | 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 1343826. 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.



