Terlingua, Texas
16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1903 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Alpine census division. It lies in ZIP code area 79852. It lies near Fossil Knobs. The Survey maps it on the Terlingua quadrangle. 78 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,507 feet above sea level.
On record in Terlingua
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 1 record
- Terlingua Historic Districtlisted 1996
Surveyed buildings and structures 5 records
- Howard E. Perry House, Terlinguafederal building survey, 5 photographs
- Mariscal Quicksilver Mine & Reduction Works, Mariscal Mountain, Terlinguafederal building survey, 81 photographs
- Perry School, Terlinguafederal building survey, 3 photographs
- St. Agnes' Church, Terlinguafederal building survey, 2 photographs
- Town of Terlingua, Terlinguafederal building survey, 1 photograph
Population over time
2 figuresTerlingua grew from 58 to 78 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 58 | |
| 2020 | 78 | +20 (+34%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 16 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.
- 1903 USGS Terlingua quadrangle1:125000
- 1904 USGS Terlingua quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1959 USGS Emory Peak quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1965 USGS Emory Peak quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS Terlingua quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1985 USGS Chisos Mountains quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
Photographs
3 photographs, 2014Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.
Highsmith, Carol M, 2014. Library of Congress
Highsmith, Carol M, 2014. Library of Congress
Highsmith, Carol M, 2014. Library of Congress
Fires near this place
1 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Terlingua in 2008, burning about 15 acres in total. 1 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 |
|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 January 2008 | Natural | 15 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 21 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 21 workings within 5 miles of Terlingua: 12 past producers, 9 occurrences. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Mercury, Fluorine-Fluorite. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed Occurrences | Fluorine-Fluorite | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Occurrences | Fluorine-Fluorite | Occurrence | ||
| Brown Prospects | Mercury | Occurrence | Vein | |
| Chisos Mine | Mercury | Past Producer | 1897, 1903, 1943 | |
| Colquitt Tigner Mine | Mercury | Past Producer | 1925, 1934 | |
| Coltrin's Camp Occurrence | Mercury | Occurrence | ||
| Lafarelle | Mercury | Occurrence | Vein | |
| Le Roi Prospect | Mercury | Occurrence | Vein | |
| Little Thirty-Eight Mine | Mercury | Past Producer | 1933 | |
| Mariposa Mine | Mercury | Past Producer | 1884, 1895, 1945 |
Storms near this place
15 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Terlingua in 15 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 10 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Terlingua | $70,000 | Wind damage occurred to several buildings on a ranch located on Taurus Mesa. Much of the damage was limited to corrugated metal that was strewn across the countryside. Rear-flank downdraft (RFD) winds were thought to have been the mechanism for the high winds. The RFD then hit State Highway 118 where the Longhorn Ranch Motel sustained wind damage. A 12x20 foot sign was blown down as well as damage to doors and the roof.The Red Cross determined that 2 houses were destroyed and 6 houses sustained major damage in the area near the motel. |
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Terlingua | $50,000 | Several structures at Terlingua Ranch sustained roof damage and a few barns were destroyed. |
| July 2025 | Flash Flood | Terlingua | - | Park rangers at the Big Bend reported flood water rushing through Long Draw Creek over FM 170. The time of occurrence is estimated by radar. No damage was reported. |
| June 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Terlingua | - | A thunderstorm moved across Brewster County and produced a 64 mph wind gust at Persimmon Gap. |
| April 2013 | Hail | Terlingua | - | A thunderstorm moved over Brewster County and produced quarter sized hail at Terlingua Ranch Lodge. The hail lasted fifteen minutes. |
| March 2007 | Hail | Terlingua | - | Several people between Texas Highway 118 and Terlingua Ranch Lodge reported penny size hail. |
| May 2002 | Hail | Terlingua | - | Hail covered the road into the lodge for 10 miles. |
| May 2002 | Hail | Terlingua | - | Dime size hail covered the ground up to two inches deep. |
| August 1998 | Flash Flood | Terlingua | - | Heavy rains from tropical thunderstorms caused flash flooding on State Highway 170 near Terlingua. |
| May 2017 | Hail | Terlingua | - | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Hail | Terlingua | - | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Hail | Terlingua | - | no account filed |
| October 2009 | Hail | Terlingua | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Terlingua | - | no account filed |
| April 2007 | Hail | Terlingua | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Study Butte | 4.5 miles | 16 | |
| Lunas | 8.5 miles | 15 | |
| Terlingua Abaja | 8.8 miles | 15 | |
| Lajitas | 9.5 miles | 17 | |
| Tres Papalotes | 12.6 miles | 15 | |
| Castolon | 14.1 miles | 15 | |
| Santa Elena Crossing | 14.6 miles | 13 | |
| Onion Spring | 15.9 miles | 11 |
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 Terlingua | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q982241 | 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 1379150. 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.





