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Cowarts, Alabama

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Dothan census division. It lies in ZIP code area 36321. The Survey maps it on the Dothan East quadrangle. 1,930 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 344 feet above sea level.

Cowarts within Houston County

Population over time

4 figures

Cowarts grew from 350 to 1,930 between 1970 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
1970350
20001,546
20101,871+325 (+21%)
20201,930+59 (+3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 9 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

60 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 60 fires within 5 miles of Cowarts between 1996 and 2020, burning about 377 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 5 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
Debris and open burning24
Missing data/not specified/undetermined16
Arson/incendiarism5
Equipment and vehicle use4
Railroad operations and maintenance3
Smoking3
Natural2
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Recreation and ceremony1

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 2007Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.5 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
2 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commission55 COUNTY ROAD 963, AL
12 September 2000Debris and open burning5.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
22 August 1998Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
2 August 2007Arson/incendiarism5.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
1 August 2010Naturalunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
30 July 2007Debris and open burningunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
16 July 2002Arson/incendiarism5.2 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Houston County

Mines and quarries near this place

8 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Cowarts: 6 unknowns, 1 occurrence, 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron, Aluminum. 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
Harbison-Walker Refractories PitAluminumPast Producer
UnnamedIronUnknown
UnnamedIronUnknown
UnnamedIronUnknown
UnnamedIronUnknown
UnnamedIronUnknown
UnnamedIronUnknown
Unnamed DepositIronOccurrence

Every working recorded in Houston County

Storms near this place

15 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Cowarts in 15 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 10 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 2 flash flood, 1 tornado. 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
April 2022Tornado (EF0)Cowarts$50,000A third tornado briefly swept through a small area in Cowarts, along the north side of US-84. The main damage were a few uprooted large trees, a couple of which fell onto the side of a home and on top of a parked car. Other trees in the vicinity sustained more minor damage and a couple of neighboring outbuildings had some roof panels stripped. These damages are consistent with an EF0 with max winds estimated at 85 mph.
July 1998Thunderstorm WindCowarts$25,000Straight-line winds damaged at least 10 mobile homes at the Avon Trailer Court, several by downed trees. A portion of a mobile home roof in Cowarts was torn off after the structure was moved more than three feet.
April 2021Thunderstorm WindCowarts$10,000A tree was blown down onto a structure in the Cowarts area.
April 2015Thunderstorm WindCowarts$5,000Multiple trees and power lines were blown down around Cowarts.
June 2013Thunderstorm WindCowarts$3,000Trees and power lines were blown down in Cowarts.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindCowarts$2,000Three trees were blown down around Cowarts. Monetary damage was estimated.
February 2024Flash FloodCowarts-Flash flooding washed out the gravel from underneath train tracks in the Cowarts area. This resulted in a train become stranded, which blocked North Broad Street, Jester Street, and Glen Lawrence Road where they connect to Highway 84.
February 2024Flash FloodCowarts-There were numerous videos showing 1 foot or more of water flowing through residential yards and business parking lots.
April 2022Thunderstorm WindCowarts-Large trees were blown down in the Cowarts area.
April 2022Thunderstorm WindCowarts-A tree was blown down near the intersection of Jester Street and Cherry Street.
May 2019Thunderstorm WindCowarts-Numerous trees were blown down.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindCowarts-A couple of trees were blown down in the Cowarts area.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindCowarts-A few trees were down across Wicker Road.
March 2000HailCowarts-Public reported dime size hail.
March 2022HailCowarts-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Houston 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
East Gate Estates0.9 miles9
North Cowarts1.2 miles9
Avon1.2 miles9
Enon1.8 miles9
Forest Park2.6 miles9
Smyrna2.7 miles9
Ardilla3.4 miles9
Wilson Quarters3.5 miles9

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 CowartsAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q67046The 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 116756. 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.