Staples, Texas
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1911 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Northeast Guadalupe census division. It lies in ZIP code area 78670. The Survey maps it on the Martindale quadrangle. 193 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 522 feet above sea level.
Population over time
3 figuresStaples fell from 350 to 193 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 | 350 | |
| 2010 | 267 | -83 (-24%) |
| 2020 | 193 | -74 (-28%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 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.
- 1911 USGS San Marcos quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1919 USGS San Marcos quadrangle1:125000
- 1953 USGS Seguin quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Seguin quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Martindale quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1985 USGS Seguin quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
33 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 33 fires within 5 miles of Staples between 2000 and 2015, burning about 424 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 14 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 6 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | HAY HAY |
| 29 August 2015 | Smoking | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | GRASSFIRE HWY 80 |
| 5 July 2011 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | PECAN PARK |
| 27 July 2013 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | SW RIVER REKINLE |
| 25 July 2013 | Debris and open burning | 3.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | SE RIVER RD GRASS FIRE |
| 7 June 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 40 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | FM1979 GRASS FIRE |
| 23 June 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 2.5 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | W RIDGE GRASS FIRE |
| 4 May 2015 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | BRUSH FIRE POLICITAL RD. |
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 Staples: 3 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hays County Gravel Co Operation | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Mercer Pit & Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Unnamed Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | Gravel, Sand |
Storms near this place
10 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Staples in 10 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 4 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 3 flash flood. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Staples | $50,000 | a trailer was badly damaged by severe thunderstorm winds near Staples. |
| May 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Staples | $10,000 | A thunderstorm produced wind gusts estimated at 70 mph that blew the metal roof off of an outbuilding near Staples. |
| June 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Staples | $2,000 | A thunderstorm produced wind gusts estimated at 60 mph that damaged a carport at a house on Sherrill Rd. near Staples. |
| June 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Staples | - | A thunderstorm produced wind gusts estimated at 62 mph in Staples. |
| March 2016 | Hail | Staples | - | A thunderstorm produced half dollar size hail. Hail covered a portion of Hwy130. |
| September 2013 | Flash Flood | Staples | - | Heavy rain caused flash flooding at the intersection of FM 20 and FM 621. Time is approximate. |
| June 2007 | Flash Flood | Staples | - | Thunderstorms produced from 2 to 4 inches of rain between Fentres and Kingsbury. Flash flooding forced the closure of both FM20 and US 80. |
| May 2006 | Flash Flood | Staples | - | Early morning showers produced 2 inches of rain that caused flash flooding where Cottonwood Creek crosses FM1339 southwest of Staples. |
| May 2000 | Hail | Staples | - | no account filed |
| February 1998 | Hail | Staples | - | 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 Staples | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q974656 | 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 1369103. 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.





