Guntersville, Alabama

22 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Guntersville census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35976. It stands on Big Spring Creek. The Survey maps it on the Guntersville quadrangle. 8,553 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 650 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Guntersville within Marshall County

On record in Guntersville

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

Company E of the 167th Infantry of the Alabama National Guard Armorylisted 2005
Downtown Guntersville Historic Districtlisted 2012
Guntersville City Schoollisted 2003
Guntersville Post Office Buildinglisted 2010
Albert G. Henry Jr. Houselisted 1989
Henry-Jordan Houselisted 1979
Saratoga Victory Milllisted 1984
Guntersville Hydroelectric Projectlisted 2016

Population over time

2 figures

Guntersville grew from 8,197 to 8,553 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	8,197
2020	8,553	+356 (+4%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

13 surveys from 22 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.

1885 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:125000
1888 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:125000
1892 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:125000
1895 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:125000
1903 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
1936 USGS Guntersville quadrangle1:24000
1948 USGS Guntersville quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
1950 USGS Guntersville quadrangle1:24000
1956 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
1958 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:250000
1960 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
1963 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:250000
1984 USGS Guntersville quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings

Photographs

8 of 9 photographs shown, 1933

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.

Guntersville Dam and powerhouse. Generator hall. Roof is supported by trusses with arched bottom chords, concealed by ceiling made up of asbestos boards on steel furring. Ceiling also serves as insulation and plenum chamber and permits recessing of highbay reflectors which are louvered at bottom to eliminate glare. These reflectors furnish the main working light and throw the generators upon which they are concentrated into strong relief; general illumination of the space comes from indirect reflectors concealed behind the crane relief and turned towards the ceiling. Floor is ceramic tile; wall, glazed structural tile up to ceiling, but of lighter color above crane rail
Photographer not recorded, 1933. Library of Congress

Visitors' builidngs. The visitors' building at Guntersville Dam performs similar functions as described for this type of building at Chickamauga and Pickwick. In addition, it gives access to a landing for pleasure craft through a flight of stairs. It is constructed of brick, like the generator hall across the river
Photographer not recorded, 1933. Library of Congress

Guntersville Dam and powerhouse. Closeup view of powerhouse. Note texture of concrete on electrical bay which is typical of most TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) projects. Pattern is produced by alternating directions of grain in adjoining form panels. Rough-sawn lumber is used to make grain more pronounced. Heavy texture conceals color and surface irregularities of concrete and will become particularly valuable as concrete ages. Office floor is above flood level and has continuous glass brick strip
Photographer not recorded, 1933. Library of Congress

Guntersville Dam and powerhouse. End of spillway deck at navigation lock. Heavy concrete pilings serve as bumpers for gantry deck cranes. Wing houses lock operating machinery and control room
Photographer not recorded, 1933. Library of Congress

Guntersville Dam and powerhouse. General view of spillway and powerhouse. The latter encloses three units, is intended to extend eventually to a fourth. Note one of two traveling gantry cranes on spillway deck. Main generator hall built in brick because it is in flood-proof portion; downstream bay which houses control equipment in lower stories and offices above is in concrete on account of flood hazard
Photographer not recorded, 1933. Library of Congress

General planning. The town of Guntersville, Alabama, one of many whose entire future has been reoriented due to the program of the Authority. Formerly a sleepy crossroads in a depressed cotton raising area, it became a center of navigation and commerce due to the construction of the reservoir. It's current and anticipated rapid development will be guided by newly established planning and zoning commissions, city plans and ordinances, with the assistance of the Authority's technicians
Photographer not recorded, 1933. Library of Congress

Guntersville Dam and powerhouse. View of entrance end of generator hall from generator floor. Raised platform at end serves as delivery and assembly space for machinery, also as visitors' overlook. Machine repair and electrical shops are located under platform. Offices in downstream wing are served by open corridor, beginning of which is seen on upper floor to the right of the picture. Directly below, control room which can be inspected from entrance platform. Windows of generator hall along sides are of glass brick (as at Chickamauga, also) for heat insulation and easier maintenance
Photographer not recorded, 1933. Library of Congress

Guntersville Dam and powerhouse. End view of powerhouse toward land approach. Enormous glazed door toward generator hall opens in sections to permit passage of heavy equipment for installation or repair. Large glass brick panel illuminates stairway which leads to electrical rooms below and office suite above. Similar stair access at other end of powerhouse
Photographer not recorded, 1933. Library of Congress

Every photograph of Marshall County

Fires near this place

64 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 64 fires within 5 miles of Guntersville between 1994 and 2018, burning about 567 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 15 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 burning	16
Arson/incendiarism	15
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	11
Recreation and ceremony	10
Railroad operations and maintenance	3
Equipment and vehicle use	3
Smoking	3
Natural	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 2006	Arson/incendiarism	1.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
6 September 2006	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	10 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
6 September 1997	Debris and open burning	2.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
4 September 2006	Arson/incendiarism	20 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
30 September 2007	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
3 September 2006	Arson/incendiarism	10 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
22 September 2015	Other causes	2.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	NOR-20150922-002
28 August 2006	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	12 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Marshall 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 Guntersville: 1 producer, 1 prospect. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Clay. 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
	Langford Mine and Mill	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
	Mal 1b Clay Prospect	Clay	Prospect

Every working recorded in Marshall County

Storms near this place

51 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Guntersville in 51 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 27 thunderstorm wind, 16 hail, 4 flash flood, 2 lightning. The reports record 30 injuries. 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
March 1994	Tornado (F2)	Guntersville	30 hurt, $5,000,000	A tornado travelled southwest to northeast across an area just south of the city of Guntersville. The tornado apparently began along Highway 79 South then cross Big Spring Creek damaging a number of residential structures along Spring Creek Drive. The tornado appeared to weaken, but was still strong enough to rip off the top part of the roof to the Marshall Nursing Home and damaging several houses near the entrance to Happy Home. It crossed U.S. Highway 431 near the high school taking out some trees on the side of the mountain and damaging a couple of homes. A total of 103 houses were damaged, 45 of them along Spring Creek Drive and eight along Highway 79 South.
June 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	$500,000	Thunderstorm wind caused extensive damage to trees which fell on and destroyed four campers at the Ossa-Win-Tha Resort on Lake Guntersville located northeast of Guntersville along Highway 79. The thunderstorm was moving from the east and the damage was confined to an small area immediately adjacent to the lake.
July 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	$100,000	Several strong thunderstorms merged and intensified around the southern portion of Guntersville lake. A microburst occurred, with the most significant damage occurring at the Claysville snack bar located along Highway 431, just south of the Highway 431/Highway 79 interchange. The small cinder block building with a relatively flat wood roof that was covered by sheet metal, was heavily damaged. The wind ripped the entire roof structure off and collapsed three of the four exterior walls. The debris was thrown downwind approximately 100 yards. The microburst had estimated maximum winds of 90 mph and appeared to initially be concentrated directly over the snack bar, with further damage moving away from this point. There was evidence of a 50 yard section of a chain link fence being bent foward and nearly uprooted by the damaging wind. The estimated length of this particular microburst was 0.6 miles. \|A couple of blocks downstream and to the north and between Braswell road and a nearby marina, several medium sized trees were snapped midway down the tree, with smaller branches thrown around. There were also a few sproadic trees downed just northeast of the microburst location.
May 1997	Flash Flood	Guntersville	$40,000	Over 5 inches of rain fell over parts of the county causing storm drains to fill up quickly. Several roads were washed away and water businesses and homes had up to 1 1/2 feet of water in them. The fire station in Guntersville had several inches of water in the truck bay.
September 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	$25,000	A few trees were downed by thunderstorm winds and roofs were partially blown off of two homes from near the intersection of May and Siebold streets and Gunter Avenue, near Guntersville, Alabama. A church on Gunter Avenue near Guntersville, Alabama, also sustained minor roof damage due to a fallen tree.
March 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	$20,000	Numerous trees were downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	$20,000	Numerous trees were blown down by thunderstorm winds on the peninsula in the city of Guntersville, Alabama.
May 1997	Hail	Guntersville	$15,000	Golf ball sized hail covered the ground in Guntersville. The high school roof and parking lot were damaged with. The wheat crop was also damaged.
February 1999	Lightning	Guntersville	$12,000	Lightning struck a transformer and entered the Classic Car Wash. The lightning damaged heavy machinery and all the computer systems and electrical appliances. No injuries were reported.
July 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	$10,000	A few small trees were blown down by thunderstorm winds.
May 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	$10,000	Numerous trees were blown down near Claysville.
June 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	$10,000	What was described as a microburst occurred in the Pleasant Grove and Sims area of Marshall County just south of Guntersville downing trees and power lines. Several thousand customers in the southern portion of Marshall County were without power. Minor damage was done to several buildings including one barn was destroyed.
April 1998	Hail	Guntersville	$10,000	no account filed
January 1997	Hail	Guntersville	$10,000	no account filed
March 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	$6,000	no account filed
July 1999	Lightning	Guntersville	$5,000	Lightning struck a home in Guntersville and ignited a small fire. The home only received minor damage because the fire was put out quickly by the fire department.
July 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	$5,000	Several trees were down just west of the Guntersville State Park along SR 227.
August 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	$3,000	A few trees were knocked down in central Marshall County around Lake Guntersville and in the city of Guntersville.
May 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	$2,000	large tree fell on mobile home.
July 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	$2,000	A few trees and power lines were blown down in the city of Guntersville. Lightning from the storms caused numerous locations to be without power for several hours.
April 2000	Hail	Guntersville	$2,000	Quarter size hail was reported just southeast of Guntersville.
May 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	$1,000	Golf ball sized hail was reported at 1600 Gordon Street.
December 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	$1,000	A tree was reported down at the intersection of highway 227 and Gordon street.
February 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	$1,000	A tree was blown down on highway 227 toward the Guntersville state park.
May 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	$500	Severe thunderstorm winds knocked down a tree near Guntersville on highway 227.
May 2025	Hail	Guntersville	-	Golf ball size hail was reported at 1600 Gordon Street in the Guntersville area.
April 2021	Hail	Guntersville	-	Ping pong ball sized hail was reported in Guntersville.
March 2017	Hail	Guntersville	-	One inch diameter hail was reported 2.2 miles southwest of Guntersville.
March 2017	Hail	Guntersville	-	Golf ball sized hail was reported on the east side of Guntersville.
August 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	-	A few trees, large limbs and power lines were downed by thunderstorm winds.
April 2012	Hail	Guntersville	-	Nickel sized hail was reported.
April 2012	Hail	Guntersville	-	Nickel sized hail was reported.
September 2011	Flash Flood	Guntersville	-	Flash flooding occurred across the Guntersville area with several inches of water over several roads.
March 2010	Funnel Cloud	Guntersville	-	A wall cloud was reported in Guntersville.
December 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	-	Thunderstorm winds blew a tree down on a road in Alder Springs and another in Grant. Time estimated.
August 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	-	Trees and street signs were blown down on Highway 227 in the northeastern section of Guntersville.
April 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	-	A few trees and power lines were blown down by thunderstorm winds in the residential area on Buck Island, just east of the Guntersville airport.
May 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	-	Trees were blown down.
April 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	-	Several power lines and trees were blown down by thunderstorm winds.
April 2005	Hail	Guntersville	-	Half dollar size hail was reported.
December 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	-	A few trees were blown down by thunderstorm winds.
March 2004	Flash Flood	Guntersville	-	Six to eight inches of water was reported over roads in Guntersville by Emergency Management.
July 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	-	Several trees were blown down throughout portions of the county due to a line of severe thunderstorms moving south into north Alabama out of southern middle Tennessee.
July 2004	Hail	Guntersville	-	Penny size hail reported at a technical school along U.S. Highway 431.
July 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	-	A few trees were blown down by thunderstorm winds along Highway 69.
October 2004	Flash Flood	Guntersville	-	Several inches of water was over County Road 205 and Highway 431 in Guntersville.
April 2003	Hail	Guntersville	-	Quarter size hail reported.
May 2003	Hail	Guntersville	-	quarter size hail reported
May 2003	Hail	Guntersville	-	nickel size hail reported.
June 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Guntersville	-	large tree and power lines down.
August 2002	Hail	Guntersville	-	Quarter size hail was observed along US 431 in northern Marshall County.

Every storm recorded in Marshall 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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Southtown	1.0 miles	22
Wyeth City	1.1 miles	22
Guntersville Shores	1.5 miles	22
Rayburn	1.6 miles	22
Mill Village	1.7 miles	22
Hide Away Acres	2.0 miles	22
Morrow Acres	2.1 miles	22
Lakeview	2.4 miles	22

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 Guntersville	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q79556	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 157977. 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.