BlockBefore

Congo, Alabama

19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Cedar Bluff-Gaylesville census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35959. The Survey maps it on the Little River quadrangle. It stands 663 feet above sea level.

Congo within Cherokee County

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 19 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

228 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 228 fires within 5 miles of Congo between 1992 and 2020, burning about 3,384 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 151 were 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
Arson/incendiarism151
Debris and open burning33
Missing data/not specified/undetermined27
Natural5
Equipment and vehicle use4
Recreation and ceremony4
Smoking2
Fireworks1
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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
8 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20160908-10
6 September 1999Arson/incendiarismunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
6 September 1999Arson/incendiarism2.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
6 September 1999Arson/incendiarism9.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
6 September 1999Arson/incendiarism12 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
5 September 1999Arson/incendiarismunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
29 September 2016Arson/incendiarism4.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20160929-23
25 September 1999Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Cherokee County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 17 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 17 workings within 5 miles of Congo: 10 occurrences, 4 past producers, 3 prospects. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron, Clay, Manganese. 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
Che 6 Clay ProspectClayProspect
Wilder Manganese ProspectManganeseOccurrence
Gaylesville AreaIronPast ProducerHematite
Little River AreaIronPast ProducerHematite
Unnamed MineIronPast Producer
Unnamed MineIronPast Producer
Unnamed ProspectIronOccurrence
Unnamed ProspectIronOccurrence
Unnamed ProspectIronOccurrence
Unnamed ProspectIronOccurrence

Every working recorded in Cherokee County

Storms near this place

3 since 2010

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Congo in 3 storm reports between 2010 and 2025: 1 lightning, 1 hail, 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2010LightningCongo$150,000Lightning struck a house on County Road 77 resulting in a fire.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindCongo-Trees and power lines were downed on CR 41 and CR 114, with CR 41 being completely blocked.
June 2011HailCongo-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Cherokee 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
Loop0.9 miles19
Little River2.4 miles19
Taft2.5 miles19
Hurley2.9 miles20
Waterloo Springs3.4 miles20
Grassland3.4 miles20
Blanche4.2 miles20
Watson4.2 miles20

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 CongoAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q18348707The 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 156207. 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.