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Gordon, Alabama

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Gordon census division. It lies in ZIP code area 36343. The Survey maps it on the Gordon quadrangle. 294 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 184 feet above sea level.

Gordon within Houston County

On record in Gordon

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

Surveyed buildings and structures 2 records

Population over time

3 figures

Gordon fell from 408 to 294 between 2000 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
2000408
2010332-76 (-19%)
2020294-38 (-11%)

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.

Photographs

2 photographs,

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.

Britt-Williams-Borders House, Greenwood Street, Gordon, Houston County, AL
Britt-Williams-Borders House, Greenwood Street, Gordon, Houston County, AL
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Nunnley-Bowden House, State Route 95, Gordon, Houston County, AL
Nunnley-Bowden House, State Route 95, Gordon, Houston County, AL
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

164 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 164 fires within 5 miles of Gordon between 1992 and 2020, burning about 611 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 4 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 burning51
Railroad operations and maintenance51
Equipment and vehicle use29
Missing data/not specified/undetermined13
Smoking5
Arson/incendiarism4
Natural4
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Recreation and ceremony3

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 September 1995Recreation and ceremony2.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
30 September 1993Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named
29 September 1997Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named
29 September 1997Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named
24 September 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreGeorgia Forestry CommissionFY2019EARLY004
24 September 1997Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named
22 September 1995Recreation and ceremony1.5 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
20 September 2004Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Houston County

Mines and quarries near this place

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Gordon: 2 occurrences, 2 unknowns, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron, Limestone, General. 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
Jackson Creek Limestone ProspectLimestone, GeneralProspect
UnnamedIronUnknown
UnnamedIronUnknown
Unnamed Iron DepositIronOccurrence
Unnamed Iron DepositIronOccurrence

Every working recorded in Houston County

Storms near this place

11 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Gordon in 11 storm reports between 1997 and 2026: 8 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 1 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
October 1997Tornado (F1)Gordon$150,000F1 tornado moved across Houston County Road 85. Two homes sustained extensive roof damage. A semitractor trailer was overturned. Numerous trees and power lines down in Ashford and Gordon.
August 2008Tornado (EF1)Gordon$75,000A tornado briefly touched down just south of Gordon. A mobile home along East County Road 8 was destroyed when an uprooted tree crashed on top of it. There were several trees with their tops snapped off along the tornado's short path.
August 2018Thunderstorm WindGordon$40,000A large oak tree fell on two trucks with an additional two uprooted trees. There were also a few downed power lines. Damage cost was estimated.
July 2000Thunderstorm WindGordon$5,000A trailer's roof was blown off at the Pleasant Hill Church. Reported by a WDHN-TV meteorologist.
March 2012Thunderstorm WindGordon$3,000Power lines were blown down around Gordon. Monetary damage was estimated.
January 2026Thunderstorm WindGordon$2,000Trees and power lines were blown down in the Gordon area.
November 2011Thunderstorm WindGordon$750A tree was blown down at 490 N State Highway 95. Monetary damage was estimated.
April 2021Thunderstorm WindGordon-Trees and power lines were blown down along Highway 95.
June 2016Thunderstorm WindGordon-Trees were blown down in Gordon.
June 2015Thunderstorm WindGordon-A tree was blown down on County Road 95.
July 1999HailGordon-Quarter size hail reported by Houston County EMA.

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
Philadelphia1.5 miles9
Alaga1.6 miles9
Pansey4.3 miles7
Harmon4.6 miles8
Crosby7.1 miles8
Dupree7.3 miles7
Ashford7.9 miles7
Lucy8.9 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 GordonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q65974The 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 157967. 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.