Pelham, Georgia
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Pelham census division. It lies in ZIP code area 31779. The Survey maps it on the Camilla quadrangle. 3,507 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 361 feet above sea level.
On record in Pelham
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
Pelham Commercial Historic Districtlisted 1983
Population over time
2 figuresPelham fell from 3,898 to 3,507 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 | 3,898 | |
| 2020 | 3,507 | -391 (-10%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 9 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.
- 1953 USGS Dothan quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1954 USGS Dothan quadrangle1:250000
- 1955 USGS Dothan quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS Camilla quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1981 USGS Camilla quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
552 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 552 fires within 5 miles of Pelham between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,856 acres in total. 8 started naturally. 45 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 | 312 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 64 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 64 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 45 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 20 |
| Smoking | 13 |
| Natural | 8 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 6 |
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 1998 | Debris and open burning | 1.9 acres | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 9 September 1997 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 2.6 acres | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 8 September 1997 | Debris and open burning | 3.0 acres | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 7 September 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 7 September 1998 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1.3 acres | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 7 September 1997 | Debris and open burning | 2.4 acres | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 5 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 5 September 2002 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Georgia Forestry Commission | FY2003-MITCHELL-015 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
53 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Pelham in 53 storm reports between 1995 and 2026: 35 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 5 flash flood, 4 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2003 | Tornado (F1) | Pelham | $350,000 | The tornado which initially touched down just south of the Grady-Mitchell county line, continued northeast, and lifted just north of County Road 262. The worst damage occurred from Wade Road to County Road 262. It destroyed three mobile homes and severely damaged three frame homes. Several mobile homes and a few frame homes sustained minor damage. The tornado toppled numerous trees and some power lines. Reported by the Mitchell County EMA. |
| February 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | $250,000 | The Mitchell County EMA reported 15 homes damaged. |
| April 2020 | Tornado (EF1) | Pelham | $100,000 | This tornado touched down near Welch St. NW on the west side of Pelham, GA. Damage was mainly confined to snapped or uprooted trees. However, the tornado did remove a large percentage of metal roofing at an auto service building on Curry Street. It also flipped a van at this location. Several trees were uprooted or snapped on Green St. before the tornado damaged a metal awning at a warehouse on U.S. 19 just south of Green St. East. The tornado continued southeast from there, causing some damage to an outbuilding and the roof of a home on Harmony Road before lifting. The damage was consistent with an EF-1 rating with max winds of 95 mph. Many other locations within Pelham were damaged by straight-line winds estimated to be around 80 mph. |
| October 2002 | Tornado (F0) | Pelham | $90,000 | A small tornado briefly touched down and destroyed a warehouse. Several trees and power lines were toppled. Reported by the Mitchell County EMA. |
| March 2002 | Lightning | Pelham | $75,000 | Lightning sparked a fire which destroyed a warehouse on Highway 19 just south of Pelham. |
| June 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | $50,000 | Thunderstorm winds knocked down several large trees, destroying four cars in the area. Also the floorboards to a home were buckled by the winds. |
| November 2002 | Lightning | Pelham | $20,000 | Lightning struck the roof of a home, and severely damaged the attic and adjacent bedroom. Reported by the Pelham Journal. |
| July 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | $20,000 | Large pine trees blown down onto power lines and homes within a three-square block area in east Pelham. Reported by the Pelham Journal. |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | $10,000 | Numerous trees were reported down over southern Mitchell county with power outages also reported. The monetary damage figure provided is a rough estimate. |
| March 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | $10,000 | Several trees down on two transformer power lines caused scattered outages. Reported by the Pelham Journal. |
| February 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | $7,000 | Trees and power lines were blown down county wide with the majority of the reports focused in the southern part of the county, including Pelham. Monetary damage was estimated. |
| January 2006 | Lightning | Pelham | $5,000 | A lightning bolt struck the ground outside a fast-food restaurant, and knocked out the telephone system and seared the transformer which operates the drive-through system. It left a large hole in the ground and shattered the pipe connected to the sprinkler system. |
| September 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | $4,000 | Trees were blown down around downtown Pelham and the rest of the county. The monetary damage figure provided is a rough estimate. |
| March 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | $3,000 | Trees were reported down at 2100 Spence Road. Monetary damage was estimated. |
| April 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | $3,000 | Trees and power lines were blown down in Pelham. |
| March 2026 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | $2,000 | Power lines were down on Highway 65 both directions at Rawson Circle. |
| February 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | $2,000 | A tree and a power line were blown down on Old Georgia Highway 3 as reported on the Mitchell County scanner. |
| June 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | $2,000 | The county dispatch reported both a tree and a power line were blown down in the town of Pelham. Monetary damage was estimated. |
| July 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | $2,000 | Several utility poles were down. Power outages were reported in the Harmony and Cotton communities. |
| August 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | $1,000 | A large branch fell onto a power line, resulting in sparks. |
| May 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | $1,000 | A tree was blown down west of Pelham near SR-112. |
| February 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | $1,000 | A SKYWARN storm spotter reported several trees down. |
| July 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | $1,000 | Thunderstorm winds knocked trees down along Georgia Highway 65 and along Georgia Highway 93, which is east of Cotton. |
| October 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | $500 | A tree was blown down at the intersection of Highway 19 and Microwave Road. |
| January 2026 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | - | Tree limbs were reported on the roadway on Highway 93 near Pelham. |
| January 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | - | A pine tree was blown down along Forty Niner Road. |
| April 2024 | Flash Flood | Pelham | - | Lakeview Road was flooded and closed. |
| April 2024 | Flash Flood | Pelham | - | Locast Road at the dump was flooded and closed. |
| April 2024 | Flash Flood | Pelham | - | Ballfield Road was flooded and closed. |
| March 2024 | Flash Flood | Pelham | - | Flooding was reported on Old Pelham Road. |
| March 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | - | Several trees were blown down around Pelham. |
| January 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | - | A few trees were blown down in Mitchell County. |
| March 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | - | Trees were blown down on Railroad Street. |
| March 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | - | A tree was blown down onto Glausier Street. |
| March 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | - | A tree was blown down on John Collins Road. |
| August 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | - | A tree was blown down on Old Thomasville Road. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | - | Multiple trees were blown down over road southwest of Pelham. |
| August 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | - | A tree fell on a power line near 466 Kierce Road. |
| July 2022 | Flood | Pelham | - | Minor flooding was reported along Mt Olive and Wade Roads. |
| July 2022 | Flash Flood | Pelham | - | There were several reports of flooding in the Pelham area. |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | - | A tree was blown down across Dixie Highway. |
| May 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | - | A tree was blown down onto Highway 262N. |
| August 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | - | A tree was blown down and resulted in a power outage along Concord Street NE in Pelham. |
| June 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | - | Two trees were blown down on Old Thomasville Road. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | - | A tree was blown down onto Highway 3 heading towards Meigs. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | - | A large tree was blown down on Back 9 Road. |
| July 2007 | Hail | Pelham | - | Penny size hail was observed north of Meigs in southeast Mitchell County. |
| April 2006 | Hail | Pelham | - | The Mitchell County Sheriff reported golfball size hail just east of Pelham. |
| December 2005 | Tornado (F0) | Pelham | - | The Mitchell County Sheriff reported a brief tornado touchdown near U.S. Highway 19. No damage was observed. |
| May 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pelham | - | Thunderstom winds knocked over several trees. The worst damage was caused by a fallen tree which destroyed a mobile home. Several tree limbs were down across the county-wide area. |
| June 2020 | Hail | Pelham | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Pelham | - | no account filed |
| March 2011 | Hail | Pelham | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rogerville | 3.1 miles | 8 | |
| Petty (historical) | 3.6 miles | 9 | |
| Cotton | 5.1 miles | 8 | |
| Saco (historical) | 5.4 miles | 8 | |
| Hinsonton | 7.5 miles | 8 | |
| Camilla | 7.8 miles | 9 | |
| Laney | 8.7 miles | 8 | |
| Branchville | 8.8 miles | 8 |
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 Pelham | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2710553 | 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 320347. 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.




