Sylvester, Texas
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Roby census division. It lies in ZIP code area 79560. It stands on Plum Creek. The Survey maps it on the Longworth quadrangle. 52 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,850 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 12 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.
- 1893 USGS Roby quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1954 USGS Big Spring quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Big Spring quadrangle1:250000
- 1969 USGS Longworth quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Snyder quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
34 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 34 fires within 5 miles of Sylvester between 2005 and 2020, burning about 1,242 acres in total. 5 started naturally. None 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 |
| Debris and open burning | 10 |
| Natural | 5 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 September 2010 | Natural | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | UNKNOWN |
| 11 September 2005 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 5 August 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 22 August 2006 | Natural | 3.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 28 July 2006 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 26 July 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 14 July 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | WELDING |
| 11 July 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 600 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Sylvester: 2 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Clay. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lone Star Industries Clay Pit | Clay | Producer | ||
| Unnamed Pit | Clay | Producer | Sedimentary |
Storms near this place
13 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sylvester in 13 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 10 hail, 2 flash flood, 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2005 | Flash Flood | Sylvester | $6,000 | Water covered roads near Sylvester for a few hours and one road had a culvert washed away. |
| September 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sylvester | $2,000 | High winds knocked down three utility poles on the Fisher-JonesCounty line. |
| April 1995 | Hail | Sylvester | $1,000 | Severe thunderstorms produced dime-size hail in Fisher and Stonewall Counties early on the 10th. |
| March 1993 | Hail | Sylvester | $500 | Larger than golfball-size hail fell in central Fisher County. The hail caused damage to roofs and vehicles in Roby. |
| June 2025 | Hail | Sylvester | - | A trained spotter reported ping pong ball size hail. |
| May 2023 | Hail | Sylvester | - | The public reported golf ball size hail in Sylvester. |
| August 2007 | Flash Flood | Sylvester | - | Farm Road 1085 closed from Highway 180 to the Nolan County line. |
| May 1993 | Hail | Sylvester | - | Dime-size hail fell in Sylvester, in eastern Fisher County. No damage was reported. |
| April 2008 | Hail | Sylvester | - | no account filed |
| April 1999 | Hail | Sylvester | - | no account filed |
| May 1999 | Hail | Sylvester | - | no account filed |
| June 1996 | Hail | Sylvester | - | no account filed |
| August 1996 | Hail | Sylvester | - | 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 Sylvester | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7660753 | 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 1376359. 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.




