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Gainesville, Alabama

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Gainesville census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35464. It stands on Folsum Branch. The Survey maps it on the Gainesville quadrangle. 172 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 128 feet above sea level.

Gainesville within Sumter County

On record in Gainesville

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 8 records

Surveyed buildings and structures 1 record

Population over time

4 figures

Gainesville fell from 1,500 to 172 between 1850 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
18501,500
2000220
2010208-12 (-5%)
2020172-36 (-17%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 8 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.

Photographs

1 photograph,

Taken 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.

Tutwiler Bridge, Spanning Tombigbee River on Alabama State Highway 9, Gainesville, Sumter County, AL
Tutwiler Bridge, Spanning Tombigbee River on Alabama State Highway 9, Gainesville, Sumter County, AL
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

34 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 34 fires within 5 miles of Gainesville between 1996 and 2018, burning about 253 acres in total. None started naturally. 11 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined11
Arson/incendiarism11
Debris and open burning6
Smoking3
Equipment and vehicle use2
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
21 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20160921-6
18 September 1999Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
3 August 2007Arson/incendiarism60 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
29 August 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined6.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
12 August 1999Arson/incendiarismunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
5 July 1996Smokingunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
3 July 2006Arson/incendiarism10 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
3 July 2006Arson/incendiarismunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named

Every fire recorded in Sumter County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Gainesville: 1 past producer, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silica, Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Johnston PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Swilley's Bend QuarrySilica, Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducerQuartz

Every working recorded in Sumter County

Storms near this place

9 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Gainesville in 9 storm reports between 1999 and 2022: 5 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail. 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
July 2006Thunderstorm WindGainesville$3,000A few trees were blown down between Gainsville and Geiger.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindGainesville-Several trees uprooted along Highway 39 near Williams Road.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindGainesville-Multiple trees uprooted and power lines downed in the city of Gainesville.
January 2020Thunderstorm WindGainesville-Several trees uprooted in the town of Gainesville.
April 2020Thunderstorm WindGainesville-Several trees uprooted in the town of Gainesville.
February 2007HailGainesville-Reported south of Gainsville along SR 39.
December 2000HailGainesville-Dime size hail was reported at the Gainesville Lock and Dam on the Tombigbee River. The hail lasted around 5 minutes and then crossed the river.
March 1999HailGainesville-Dime sized hail reported in Gainesville.
February 2004HailGainesville-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Sumter 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
Hamner7.9 miles8
Warsaw8.4 miles8
Geiger8.4 miles8
Sumterville8.6 miles13
Bethel (historical)9.0 miles8
Epes9.2 miles13
Fair Oaks9.5 miles8
Emelle10.4 miles8

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 GainesvilleAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q67505The 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 157962. 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.