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.
Population over time
2 figuresThorsby 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,980 | |
| 2020 | 2,064 | +84 (+4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 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.
- 1891 USGS Clanton quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1953 USGS Montgomery quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1956 USGS Montgomery quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Montgomery quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS Jemison East quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1986 USGS Clanton quadrangle1:100000
- 1987 USGS Clanton quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
236 since 1994Regional 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 burning | 102 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 41 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 37 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 26 |
| Smoking | 12 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 7 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 6 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 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 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | ECR-20130907-001 |
| 6 September 2019 | Debris and open burning | 13 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20190906-6 |
| 6 September 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 5 September 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 4 September 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 29 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | 6.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 24 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 24 September 1999 | 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
9 within 5 milesRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B. T. Childers Prospect | Arsenic, Copper, Gold | Occurrence | 1929 | |
| B.T. Childer's Prospect | Gold, Copper, Iron, Arsenic | Occurrence | Chalcopyrite, Gold, Pyrite | |
| Honeycutt's Mill Placer Mine | Gold, Iron | Past Producer | 1842, 1892 | |
| Frye Shale Pit | Clay | Producer | ||
| Jemison | Clay | Producer | ||
| Jemison Quarry | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | Unconsolidated Sediments | |
| Pierce Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| B. T. Childer Prospect | Gold | Past Producer | Vein | |
| Mulberry Creek Placer | Gold | Past Producer | Placer |
Storms near this place
15 since 1998Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 1998 | Lightning | Thorsby | $30,000 | Six horses were killed by lightning in the Mineral Springs community. |
| June 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thorsby | $17,000 | Several 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 1999 | Flash Flood | Thorsby | $12,000 | Radar 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 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thorsby | $5,000 | One barn had its roof blown off in Thorsby. |
| May 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thorsby | $1,000 | A large tree was blown down in the city of Thorsby. |
| April 2005 | Hail | Thorsby | $1,000 | Penny to quarter size hail fell across south central Chilton County. |
| March 2023 | Hail | Thorsby | - | Ping pong size hail reported in Thorsby. |
| April 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thorsby | - | 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 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thorsby | - | A large tree uprooted and power lines downed near County Road 744. |
| July 2005 | Flash Flood | Thorsby | - | US Highway 31 near Thorsby was covered with water and was temporarily impassable. |
| June 2001 | Hail | Thorsby | - | Dime size hail was observed in Thorsby. |
| April 2000 | Hail | Thorsby | - | Dime size hail was observed just west of Thorsby on CR 5. |
| February 1998 | Hail | Thorsby | - | Nickel size hail was reported just south of Thorsby. |
| February 2009 | Hail | Thorsby | - | no account filed |
| April 2009 | Hail | Thorsby | - | no account filed |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collins Chapel | 2.6 miles | 15 | |
| Jemison | 3.5 miles | 15 | |
| Lomax | 3.9 miles | 15 | |
| Pleasant Grove | 4.2 miles | 15 | |
| Mineral Springs | 4.5 miles | 15 | |
| Center Hill | 4.9 miles | 15 | |
| Union Grove | 5.0 miles | 15 | |
| Rocky Mount | 5.2 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 Thorsby | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1259054 | 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 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.






