Paint Rock, Alabama
25 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the Paint Rock census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35764. It lies near Webb Hollow. The Survey maps it on the Paint Rock quadrangle. 182 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 610 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresPaint Rock fell from 210 to 182 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 | 210 | |
| 2020 | 182 | -28 (-13%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 25 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.
- 1888 USGS Scottsboro quadrangle1:125000
- 1892 USGS Scottsboro quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1936 USGS Paint Rock quadrangle1:24000
- 1948 USGS Paint Rock quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1950 USGS Paint Rock 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
- 1984 USGS Huntsville quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
- 1997 USGS Paint Rock quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
36 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 36 fires within 5 miles of Paint Rock between 1995 and 2019, burning about 550 acres in total. None started naturally. 7 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 | 12 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 7 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 September 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.2 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | NOR-20130928-002 |
| 26 September 1999 | Smoking | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 22 September 2019 | Debris and open burning | 4.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20190922-19 |
| 16 September 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 13 September 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 50 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 17 August 2007 | Smoking | 27 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 13 August 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | NOR-20120813-001 |
| 9 June 2006 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | 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 Paint Rock: 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elm 1 Clay Prospect | Clay | Prospect |
Storms near this place
19 since 2009Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Paint Rock in 19 storm reports between 2009 and 2025: 15 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paint Rock | $8,000 | The top of a power pole was snapped off at this location. Time was estimated from radar. |
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paint Rock | $7,000 | Three trees were uprooted and numerous trees branches were knocked down. |
| September 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paint Rock | $6,000 | A thunderstorms knocked down trees on highway 65 near Highway 72 in the Paint Rock Valley area, between the cities of Gurley and Paint Roack. Another tree was reported blown down in Garth on highway 65. |
| August 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paint Rock | $5,000 | The roof of a metal barn structure was blown off at this location. Roof at least 50% or more removed based on pictures provided by public. |
| August 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paint Rock | $2,500 | Two trees were uprooted in the field near this location based on pictures from broadcast media. Large branches were also knocked down. |
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paint Rock | $2,000 | A tree was reported down on powerlines on Jones Street in the Paint Rock area. Time was estimated from radar. |
| August 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paint Rock | $2,000 | Minor roof damage to a well constructed one-story home occurred at this location. Less than 10% damaged. |
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paint Rock | $1,000 | Emergency manager reported a tree down on the roadway on Williamson Street near highway 72. Time was estimated from radar. |
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paint Rock | $1,000 | A tree was reported down at 1400 AL highway 65 in the Paint Rock community. Time was estimated from radar. |
| August 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paint Rock | $1,000 | A tree was reported down on highway 65 just across a railroad crossing near highway 72. |
| August 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paint Rock | $1,000 | A tree was knocked down at 1898 CR 235 near Paint Rock. |
| March 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paint Rock | $500 | Power lines were knocked down at the intersection of U.S. Highway 72 and Alabama Highway 65. |
| March 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paint Rock | $300 | A tree was snapped and outhouses were damaged. |
| May 2025 | Hail | Paint Rock | - | Quarter size hail was reported in the Pain Rock area along highway 72. |
| March 2021 | Hail | Paint Rock | - | One inch diameter hail was reported. |
| March 2021 | Hail | Paint Rock | - | Hail of 1.5 inch in diameter was reported. |
| June 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paint Rock | - | Trees were knocked down and power lines were hanging low along CR 1. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paint Rock | - | A tree was uprooted along Highway 72. |
| December 2009 | Flash Flood | Paint Rock | - | Flooding was reported over both lanes of Highway 72 near the Jackson and Madison county border. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Woodville | 3.7 miles | 25 | |
| Garth | 4.7 miles | 25 | |
| Trenton | 7.1 miles | 25 | |
| Lim Rock | 7.5 miles | 21 | |
| Little Nashville | 8.2 miles | 22 | |
| Pierceton (historical) | 8.4 miles | 21 | |
| Aspel | 9.1 miles | 21 | |
| Dry Cove (historical) | 10.3 miles | 21 |
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 Paint Rock | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q66967 | 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 154485. 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.










