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Waitsburg, Washington

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1919 and the latest in 1980. It stands in the Waitsburg census division. It lies in ZIP code area 99361. It stands on Wilson Creek. The Survey maps it on the Waitsburg quadrangle. 1,166 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,263 feet above sea level.

Waitsburg within Walla Walla County

On record in Waitsburg

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 4 records

Population over time

2 figures

Waitsburg fell from 1,217 to 1,166 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.

YearPeople Change
20101,217
20201,166-51 (-4%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 10 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

3 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of Waitsburg between 1995 and 2017, burning about 1,452 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
Recreation and ceremony1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
5 August 2017Missing data/not specified/undetermined1,350 acresWashington State Fire Marshal's OfficeWHETSTONE RD
13 July 1995Power generation/transmission/distribution100 acresSpokane DistrictSMITH CYN
27 May 2017Recreation and ceremony1.5 acresWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersLEWIS AND CLARK

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Walla Walla County

Mines and quarries near this place

6 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Waitsburg: 6 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Mills QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Unnamed QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Hale PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Mays PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Unnamed PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Waitsburg PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Walla Walla County

Storms near this place

9 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Waitsburg in 9 storm reports between 2000 and 2026: 4 hail, 1 heavy rain, 1 funnel cloud, 1 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
October 2000Heavy RainWaitsburg$90,000Substantial rains over the previous day, coupled with an early morning thunderstorm that dumped over one-half inch of rain in 45 minutes, lead to widespread agricultural runoff that washed mud over several local roads. Rushing waters stripped several layers of gravel from Miller Road, located just west of Waitsburg. Several local gravel roads needed to be completely regraded.
March 2026FloodWaitsburg-The Walla Walla County dispatch reported flooding along the Touchet River in the town of Waitsburg the morning of the 14th. The dispatch center relayed that a levee near the Preston Ave bridge had been breached, leading to flooding of properties along the Touchet River. Several roads in the Waitsburg area were also closed, including US Highway 12, due to water over the roadway.
June 2012HailWaitsburg-Hail up to half dollar size accompanied by 60 mph winds wind shredded window screens.
April 2006Thunderstorm WindWaitsburg-Tree limbs on power lines knocked power out.
August 2019HailWaitsburg-no account filed
August 2019HailWaitsburg-no account filed
August 2008HailWaitsburg-no account filed
April 2005Flash FloodWaitsburg-no account filed
April 2001Funnel CloudWaitsburg-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Walla Walla County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Coppei3.7 miles11
Bolles3.7 miles10
Minnick7.4 miles11
Robinson7.7 miles10
Prescott8.8 miles10
Dixie9.0 miles11
Eastman9.4 miles11
Gilliam10.0 miles11

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 WaitsburgAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1506464The 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 1512768. 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.