Marvel, Alabama
20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1899 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Piper-Coleanor census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35115. It stands on Daley Creek. The Survey maps it on the Halfmile Shoals quadrangle. It stands 522 feet above sea level.
On record in Marvel
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 1 record
- Marvel Water Tower, Bibb County Road 10, Marvelfederal building survey, 2 photographs
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 20 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.
- 1899 USGS Brookwood quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1934 USGS Blocton quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1934 USGS Blocton quadrangle1:48000
- 1940 USGS Blocton quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1953 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1956 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:250000
- 1975 USGS Blocton NE quadrangle1:24000
- 1980 USGS Halfmile Shoals quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1984 USGS Tuscaloosa quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
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.
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Fires near this place
285 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 285 fires within 5 miles of Marvel between 1994 and 2020, burning about 4,349 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 173 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 | 173 |
| Debris and open burning | 73 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 9 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 7 |
| Natural | 4 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 24 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 9 September 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 7 September 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 3.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 6 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20200906-2 |
| 5 September 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.5 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 30 September 1994 | Debris and open burning | 3.5 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 28 September 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 10 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 27 September 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 17 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Marvel: 1 occurrence. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Copper. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alamag Copper Prospects No 2 | Copper | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
2 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Marvel in 2 storm reports between 2006 and 2022: 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Marvel | $2,000 | A few trees were knocked down in north and northwest Bibb County. |
| March 2022 | Tornado (EF0) | Marvel | - | National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in northeast Bibb County and determined that it was consistent with an EF0 tornado, with maximum winds near 75 mph. The tornado touched down along CR 21 where a few trees were uprooted. The tornado then tracked northeastward, uprooting additional trees and crossing into Shelby County. No structural damage was observed as the track went across forested areas and stayed clear of residential areas. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garnsey | 1.0 miles | 20 | |
| Garnsey Number 2 | 1.0 miles | 18 | |
| Cane Creek (historical) | 1.3 miles | 20 | |
| Eddings Town | 1.4 miles | 18 | |
| Masena | 2.4 miles | 20 | |
| Seymour | 2.5 miles | 19 | |
| Belle Ellen | 3.3 miles | 19 | |
| Nash Town (historical) | 3.6 miles | 19 |
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 Marvel | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q22058508 | 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 122348. 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.









