Thornton, Texas
6 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Thornton census division. It lies in ZIP code area 76687. It stands on Eaton Branch. The Survey maps it on the Thornton quadrangle. 421 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 492 feet above sea level.
Population over time
3 figuresThornton fell from 525 to 421 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 | 525 | |
| 2010 | 526 | +1 (+0%) |
| 2020 | 421 | -105 (-20%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 6 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
- 1966 USGS Thornton quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Marlin quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
65 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 65 fires within 5 miles of Thornton between 2005 and 2020, burning about 741 acres in total. None 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 | 30 |
| Debris and open burning | 24 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | FM 1246 & LCR 758 |
| 19 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 919201601 |
| 18 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 918201702 |
| 10 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 910201701 |
| 25 August 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 8252018 |
| 23 August 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 50 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 23 August 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 22 August 2019 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 8222019 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
23 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Thornton in 23 storm reports between 1993 and 2020: 10 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail, 3 tornado, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2002 | Tornado (F2) | Thornton | $250,000 | This tornado first touched down just west of farm road 2749 about .5 mile southeast of Thornton. Two houses were damaged, one mobile home destroyed and a mobile home unroofed. The tornado moved northeast damaging a barn, then moved into the Davis Prairie community damaging several houses, some mobile homes, and numerous outbuildings. The tornado moved northeast and weakened before dissipating 2.4 miles south of the Box Church community. |
| November 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thornton | $170,000 | no account filed |
| February 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thornton | $120,000 | Strong wind damaged the roofs of four homes, and destroyed the roof of a barn and a shed. Trees, power lines, and antennas were blown down. |
| May 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thornton | $30,000 | Trees were uprooted and a roof was blown off a building. Reported by cooperative observer. |
| April 2011 | Heavy Rain | Thornton | $25,000 | A vehicle driving south on Highway 14 near Thornton hydroplanned and crashed resulting in one fatality and one injury. |
| August 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thornton | $15,000 | A homeowner suffered damage to his roof when a large limb fell, puncturing a hole into the roof. Several outbuildings were also destroyed on the property. |
| April 1993 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thornton | $5,000 | Thunderstorm winds blew a tree down on a vehicle. Shingles were blown off roofs and several television antennas were blown down. |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thornton | $2,000 | Power poles were blown down by thunderstorm winds. |
| July 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thornton | $1,500 | A trained spotter reported three power poles down in the city of Thornton, TX. A sheet metal carport was also damaged to the north of Thornton along with some tree branches. |
| September 2020 | Flood | Thornton | - | Emergency management reported water over several roads around the city of Thornton, TX. |
| April 2018 | Hail | Thornton | - | A trained spotter reported quarter-sized hail at County Road 758 approximately 1 mile east of the city of Thornton, TX. |
| April 2017 | Hail | Thornton | - | A trained spotter reported golf ball sized hail near the intersection of Hwy 14 and FM 1246 in the city of Thornton, TX. |
| April 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thornton | - | A trained spotter reported winds in excess of 60 MPH in the city of Thornton, TX. |
| May 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thornton | - | Emergency management reported tree damage blocking roads in Thornton, TX. |
| December 2015 | Flash Flood | Thornton | - | FM 1246 west of Thornton was barricaded due to water over the road. |
| April 2011 | Tornado (EF0) | Thornton | - | A NWS Storm Survey determined an EF-0 tornado began approximately 4 miles south-southeast of Thornton. This tornado had a path length of approximately 0.75 miles and an estimated width of 100 yards. Some tree damage occurred with this tornado and winds were estimated near 75 mph. |
| October 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thornton | - | Sixty to seventy mile an hour winds were estimated by the sheriff's office. |
| June 2004 | Flash Flood | Thornton | - | Water was over FM 1246. |
| July 2001 | Hail | Thornton | - | no account filed |
| April 1999 | Hail | Thornton | - | no account filed |
| April 1996 | Tornado (F0) | Thornton | - | no account filed |
| April 1996 | Hail | Thornton | - | no account filed |
| April 1996 | Hail | Thornton | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Davis Prairie | 2.6 miles | 6 | |
| Beulah | 3.4 miles | 6 | |
| Pleasant Grove | 3.6 miles | 6 | |
| Coit | 5.6 miles | 6 | |
| Box Church | 6.0 miles | 7 | |
| Red Hill | 6.1 miles | 6 | |
| Buffalo Mop | 6.5 miles | 6 | |
| Big Hill | 6.6 miles | 6 |
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 Thornton | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q976067 | 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 1369866. 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.



