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Thorsby, Alabama

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 1987. It stands in the Jemison census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35171. It stands on Ram Branch. The Survey maps it on the Jemison East quadrangle. 2,064 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 696 feet above sea level.

Thorsby within Chilton County

Population over time

2 figures

Thorsby grew from 1,980 to 2,064 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.

YearPeople Change
20101,980
20202,064+84 (+4%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 15 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.

Fires near this place

236 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 236 fires within 5 miles of Thorsby between 1994 and 2020, burning about 1,077 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 37 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 burning102
Missing data/not specified/undetermined41
Arson/incendiarism37
Recreation and ceremony26
Smoking12
Equipment and vehicle use7
Misuse of fire by a minor6
Natural2
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Other causes1

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
7 September 2013Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresAlabama Forestry CommissionECR-20130907-001
6 September 2019Debris and open burning13 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20190906-6
6 September 1995Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
5 September 1997Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
4 September 1995Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
29 September 2007Debris and open burning6.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
24 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
24 September 1999Debris and open burningunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Chilton County

Mines and quarries near this place

9 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Thorsby: 4 producers, 3 past producers, 2 occurrences. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay, Copper, Iron, Arsenic. 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
B. T. Childers ProspectArsenic, Copper, GoldOccurrence1929
B.T. Childer's ProspectGold, Copper, Iron, ArsenicOccurrenceChalcopyrite, Gold, Pyrite
Honeycutt's Mill Placer MineGold, IronPast Producer1842, 1892
Frye Shale PitClayProducer
JemisonClayProducer
Jemison QuarrySand and Gravel, ConstructionProducerUnconsolidated Sediments
Pierce PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
B. T. Childer ProspectGoldPast ProducerVein
Mulberry Creek PlacerGoldPast ProducerPlacer

Every working recorded in Chilton County

Storms near this place

15 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Thorsby in 15 storm reports between 1998 and 2023: 7 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 1 lightning. 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
July 1998LightningThorsby$30,000Six horses were killed by lightning in the Mineral Springs community.
June 2004Thunderstorm WindThorsby$17,000Several trees and power lines were blown down along CR 29 between Thorsby and Lomax. One old barn and a few outbuildings were destroyed in Lomax.
July 1999Flash FloodThorsby$12,000Radar estimated that two to four inches of rain fell across parts of Chilton County in less than three hours. This caused many roads in Thorsby to become flooded.
February 1999Thunderstorm WindThorsby$5,000One barn had its roof blown off in Thorsby.
May 2009Thunderstorm WindThorsby$1,000A large tree was blown down in the city of Thorsby.
April 2005HailThorsby$1,000Penny to quarter size hail fell across south central Chilton County.
March 2023HailThorsby-Ping pong size hail reported in Thorsby.
April 2020Thunderstorm WindThorsby-The core of a potent thunderstorm quickly intensified in the vicinity of Interstate 65 in Chilton County during the early-morning hours. Significant straight-line winds developed along a bow echo as the strong winds aloft breached the low-level stable layer. Extensive wind damage, consisting of numerous uprooted and snapped trees, began in Chilton County just west of Thorsby and continued eastward to the Coosa County line.
April 2020Thunderstorm WindThorsby-A large tree uprooted and power lines downed near County Road 744.
July 2005Flash FloodThorsby-US Highway 31 near Thorsby was covered with water and was temporarily impassable.
June 2001HailThorsby-Dime size hail was observed in Thorsby.
April 2000HailThorsby-Dime size hail was observed just west of Thorsby on CR 5.
February 1998HailThorsby-Nickel size hail was reported just south of Thorsby.
February 2009HailThorsby-no account filed
April 2009HailThorsby-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Chilton 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
Collins Chapel2.6 miles15
Jemison3.5 miles15
Lomax3.9 miles15
Pleasant Grove4.2 miles15
Mineral Springs4.5 miles15
Center Hill4.9 miles15
Union Grove5.0 miles15
Rocky Mount5.2 miles15

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 ThorsbyAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1259054The 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 153689. 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.