Hillsboro, Alabama
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1936 and the latest in 1986. It stands in the Hillsboro census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35643. It stands on Prairie Creek. The Survey maps it on the Hillsboro quadrangle. 407 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 597 feet above sea level.
On record in Hillsboro
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 1 record
Thomas Holland Houselisted 1991
Population over time
2 figuresHillsboro fell from 552 to 407 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 | 552 | |
| 2020 | 407 | -145 (-26%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 15 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.
- 1936 USGS Hillsboro quadrangle1:24000
- 1948 USGS Hillsboro quadrangle1:24000
- 1951 USGS Hillsboro quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1963 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:250000
- 1974 USGS Hillsboro quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Tuscumbia quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
Fires near this place
195 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 195 fires within 5 miles of Hillsboro between 1994 and 2019, burning about 3,207 acres in total. None started naturally. 105 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 | 105 |
| Debris and open burning | 55 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 21 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 5 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 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 1998 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 27 September 2016 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20160927-8 |
| 23 September 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 19 September 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 18 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | NOR-20140919-001 |
| 19 September 2003 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 8.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 15 September 1999 | Smoking | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 14 September 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 45 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 13 September 2002 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
15 since 1999Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Hillsboro in 15 storm reports between 1999 and 2025: 10 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 1 funnel cloud, 1 flash flood. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2010 | Hail | Hillsboro | $50,000 | Golfball size hail was reported 5 miles west of Trinity. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hillsboro | $30,000 | Thunderstorm winds produced roof damage to multiple homes. One roof was blown off and power lines were knocked down in the area. |
| October 2010 | Tornado (EF1) | Hillsboro | $10,000 | An EF-1 tornado with winds up to 95 mph touched down briefly along Highway 20 near County Road 217 in Hillsboro. The tornado uprooted several trees and snapped several hardwood trees. The tornado lifted west of County Road 400. |
| April 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hillsboro | $4,000 | Trees and powerlines were reported down at this location. Time was estimated from radar. |
| August 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hillsboro | $3,500 | Two to three trees were knocked down and an inflatable slide was blown away. Time was estimated by radar. |
| September 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hillsboro | $3,000 | Power lines were blown down in Hillsboro. |
| April 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hillsboro | $1,000 | A tree was blown down over Beatrice Blvd. |
| January 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hillsboro | $1,000 | A power pole was snapped by thunderstorm winds at the intersection of County Road 217 and Highway 20 in Hillsboro, Alabama. |
| March 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hillsboro | $1,000 | Trees were knocked down on North Railroad Street. |
| February 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hillsboro | - | Trees and power lines were knocked down in Hillsboro. |
| March 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hillsboro | - | Thunderstorm winds knocked a large tree down and blew down multiple sheds at the intersections of Highway 20 and CR 217. Time was estimated by radar. |
| March 2011 | Hail | Hillsboro | - | Nickel sized hail was reported. |
| February 2003 | Flash Flood | Hillsboro | - | Water over road on county road 217. |
| May 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hillsboro | - | mobile home slightly damaged by thunderstorm winds. |
| January 1999 | Funnel Cloud | Hillsboro | - | A funnel cloud was reported near Hillsboro. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reynolds | 1.1 miles | 15 | |
| Lovettville | 1.2 miles | 15 | |
| Fish Pond | 2.7 miles | 15 | |
| Wheeler | 3.2 miles | 15 | |
| Flower Hill | 3.4 miles | 15 | |
| Brides Hill | 3.5 miles | 15 | |
| Lakeview | 4.8 miles | 15 | |
| Jerusalem | 4.9 miles | 15 |
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 Hillsboro | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q67342 | 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 120137. 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.
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.








