Gardendale, Alabama
27 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Gardendale census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35071. The Survey maps it on the Gardendale quadrangle. 16,044 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 679 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresGardendale grew from 13,893 to 16,044 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 13,893 | |
| 2020 | 16,044 | +2,151 (+15%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
13 surveys from 27 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.
- 1889 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:125000
- 1892 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:125000
- 1895 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1904 USGS Birmingham Coal District quadrangle1:62500
- 1906 USGS Birmingham Coal District quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1906 USGS Birmingham Special quadrangle1:62500
- 1907 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1953 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1956 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Gardendale quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1975 USGS Gardendale quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Birmingham North quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Photographs
8 of 9 photographs shown, 1937Taken 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.
Rothstein, Arthur, 1937. Library of Congress
Rothstein, Arthur, 1937. Library of Congress
Rothstein, Arthur, 1937. Library of Congress
Rothstein, Arthur, 1937. Library of Congress
Rothstein, Arthur, 1937. Library of Congress
Rothstein, Arthur, 1937. Library of Congress
Rothstein, Arthur, 1937. Library of Congress
Rothstein, Arthur, 1937. Library of Congress
Every photograph of Jefferson County
Fires near this place
109 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 109 fires within 5 miles of Gardendale between 1994 and 2020, burning about 1,026 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 41 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/incendiarism | 41 |
| Debris and open burning | 34 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 |
| Natural | 4 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 3 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Other causes | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 1.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 5 September 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 5.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 26 September 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20190926-8 |
| 19 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20190919-19 |
| 14 September 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 14 September 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 12 September 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 2.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 11 September 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Gardendale: 3 occurrences, 1 unknown. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed | Iron | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed Prospect | Iron | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Prospect | Iron | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Prospect | Iron | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
14 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Gardendale in 14 storm reports between 1995 and 2021: 8 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. The reports record 1 injury. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2006 | Tornado (F1) | Gardendale | 1 hurt, $500,000 | The tornado touched down near the intersection of US Highway 31 and Main Street. It knocked a few trees down west of US Highway 31, then traveled southeastward and affected the business district along US Highway 31. A few dozen businesses were heavily damaged. The damage included significant roof damage, broken windows, large bay doors blown out, air conditioning unit damage and sign damage. Three vary large air conditioning units were blown off the roof of a K-Mart. These units were estimated at 5 to 8 thousand pounds each. A church along US Highway 31 suffered roof damage. Dozens of homes were damaged and numerous trees were blown down east of US Highway 31 in the vicinity of Tarrant Road and Peterson Road. One woman was injured when a tree fell through the roof of her home. South of Tarrant Road, the tornado mainly produced tree damage. The tornado lifted near Lumen Park and Taihaiti Lane. |
| May 2003 | Hail | Gardendale | $5,000 | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gardendale | $3,000 | no account filed |
| October 1999 | Hail | Gardendale | $2,000 | Quarter size hail fell in Gardendale. |
| March 2021 | Hail | Gardendale | - | Quarter size hail reported in the city of Gardendale. |
| April 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gardendale | - | Numerous trees uprooted between Fultondale and Gardendale. |
| May 2003 | Hail | Gardendale | - | Penny to quarter size hail fell in and around the city of Gardendale. |
| July 2002 | Hail | Gardendale | - | Dime size hail was observed in Gardendale. |
| May 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gardendale | - | Trees were blown down on US 31 in Gardendale. |
| May 1995 | Hail | Gardendale | - | Much of Jefferson County was affected by a strong thunderstorm with wind gusts to hurricane force and large hail. Dime and nickel-size hail was reported in Gardendale. Trees were downed in scattered areas especially across the northern two-thirds of Jefferson County. Trees were uprooted in Bluff Park, a tree fell on a car near downtown Birmingham in the University of Alabama at Birmingham area, and numerous trees were down in the Roebuck area of northeast Birmingham. All of the Birmingham television stations on Red Mountain were knocked off the air by the high wind and the large WBRC sign at Channel 6 was destroyed. The buildings at Channel 6 and 13 suffered minor damage. Most of the radio stations located along Red Mountain were also off the air for a period of time. More than 99,000 electric customers were without power after the storm. A security guard was injured when he was struck in the knee with a piece of flying metal. A woman had to have the tip of her finger amputated when the wind slammed a car door on her finger. A woman was injured at the Birmingham Zoo when a tree limb fell on her arm. Wind at the Birmingham Airport was measured from the northwest at 71 miles an hour at 1312 CST. |
| January 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gardendale | - | Trees and tree limbs were reported downed by the wind on the west side of Gardendale in northern Jefferson County. |
| April 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gardendale | - | Three-quarter inch hail covered the ground in Warrior. Trees about two feet in diameter were downed in Gardendale. |
| August 2007 | Hail | Gardendale | - | no account filed |
| April 2001 | Hail | Gardendale | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Olive | 2.4 miles | 27 | |
| New Castle | 2.5 miles | 27 | |
| Cunningham (historical) | 2.5 miles | 27 | |
| Fieldstown | 2.6 miles | 27 | |
| Fulton Springs | 2.9 miles | 30 | |
| Frances Heights | 3.5 miles | 30 | |
| Walker Chapel | 3.7 miles | 30 | |
| Humoro | 3.8 miles | 30 |
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 Gardendale | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q79679 | 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 118823. 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.












