Shepherd, Texas
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1943 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the Shepherd-Evergreen census division. It lies in ZIP code area 77371. It stands on Yates Creek. The Survey maps it on the Rayburn quadrangle. 2,105 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 144 feet above sea level.
Population over time
3 figuresShepherd grew from 2,029 to 2,105 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 | 2,029 | |
| 2010 | 2,319 | +290 (+14%) |
| 2020 | 2,105 | -214 (-9%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 13 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.
- 1943 USGS Liberty quadrangle1:125000
- 1954 USGS Beaumont quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1955 USGS Rayburn quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Beaumont quadrangle1:250000
- 1984 USGS Beaumont quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1984 USGS Rayburn quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Beaumont quadrangle1:100000
- 1997 USGS Rayburn quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
273 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 273 fires within 5 miles of Shepherd between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,894 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 21 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 | 185 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 48 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 21 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 7 |
| Natural | 5 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 2009 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | RAILROAD AVE @ CASTLEBERRY |
| 8 September 2009 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 3109 CHERRY CREEK EAST |
| 7 September 2019 | Debris and open burning | 1.2 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | SAN JACINTO 17:44 |
| 5 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 2891 FM 2666 |
| 5 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | INDUSTRIAL BLVD |
| 5 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 30 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | WRIGHT BLVD @ TIDWELL |
| 30 September 2010 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | 71 POST OAK |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
31 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Shepherd in 31 storm reports between 1996 and 2017: 11 hail, 10 thunderstorm wind, 5 flash flood, 3 tornado. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shepherd | $50,000 | Numerous trees down just north of Squier Cemetary in southern San Jacinto County. Some trees were on houses and trailer homes. |
| May 2006 | Hail | Shepherd | $25,000 | Golf ball size hail. |
| October 1997 | Tornado (F1) | Shepherd | $25,000 | Mainly tree damage from Midway to Shepherd. |
| November 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shepherd | $20,000 | Sheriff's office reported trees down and houses damaged in Shepherd. |
| August 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shepherd | $15,000 | Trees and power lines blown down. |
| March 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shepherd | $15,000 | Dime sized hail also reported. |
| May 2000 | Flash Flood | Shepherd | $15,000 | Two feet of water on US 59 near Shepherd. |
| November 2000 | Tornado (F0) | Shepherd | $15,000 | Trees down. |
| May 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shepherd | $15,000 | Tree down. |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shepherd | $15,000 | Downburst snapped tops of trees off. Minor roof damage to a convenience store. |
| February 1999 | Hail | Shepherd | $15,000 | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Hail | Shepherd | $11,000 | Golf ball size hail on Highway 150 between Coldspring and Shepherd. |
| February 2012 | Flash Flood | Shepherd | $10,000 | Heavy rainfall caused numerous road closures between the towns of Cleveland, Shepherd, and Segno over to areas near Dillardsville. A rainfall total of 9.30 inches was recorded by a cooperative weather observer in the community of Ace. |
| May 2004 | Flash Flood | Shepherd | $10,000 | Numerous small roads including Dabney Bottom, Tony Tap and River Creek closed due to flooding. |
| June 2003 | Tornado (F0) | Shepherd | $10,000 | Damage to Shepherd High School and roof damage to an agricultural building and nearby homes. |
| May 2000 | Hail | Shepherd | $10,000 | no account filed |
| May 1999 | Hail | Shepherd | $10,000 | no account filed |
| April 1998 | Hail | Shepherd | $10,000 | no account filed |
| January 1999 | Hail | Shepherd | $7,000 | no account filed |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shepherd | $5,000 | Wind damage to homes in Shepherd. |
| April 1996 | Hail | Shepherd | $5,000 | no account filed |
| November 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shepherd | $5,000 | no account filed |
| September 1996 | Hail | Shepherd | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 2003 | Hail | Shepherd | $4,000 | Penny size hail at FM 2025 and FM 925. |
| December 1997 | Flash Flood | Shepherd | $3,000 | High water on Loop 424. |
| May 2006 | Hail | Shepherd | $2,000 | Penny size hail. |
| August 2017 | Flash Flood | Shepherd | - | There was a report of high water closing Marie Street in Shepherd with numerous reports of other flooded roadways around the county.||Many roads and homes along the southern end of Lake Livingston were inundated. FM 3278 was inaccessible due to the inundation of flood waters. Major lowland flooding occurred on the Trinity River near Goodrich. Hundreds to thousands of homes received various levels of damage from flooding; from minor to being completely destroyed. |
| June 2014 | Funnel Cloud | Shepherd | - | A funnel cloud was sighted near FM 2666 between SH 150 and FM 2025. |
| July 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shepherd | - | Trees were blown on FM 2666. |
| May 2007 | Funnel Cloud | Shepherd | - | Funnel cloud reported off of US Highway 59. |
| August 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shepherd | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Napier | 1.1 miles | 12 | |
| Strington | 2.9 miles | 13 | |
| Lake Tejas | 4.2 miles | 13 | |
| Urbana | 4.8 miles | 12 | |
| Lake Water Wheel | 4.9 miles | 13 | |
| Westcott | 6.5 miles | 12 | |
| Rose Hill | 7.7 miles | 14 | |
| Camilla | 7.7 miles | 14 |
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 Shepherd | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q972421 | 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 1382753. 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.







