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Smithville, Georgia

7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Smithville census division. It lies in ZIP code area 31787. The Survey maps it on the Smithville West quadrangle. 593 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 328 feet above sea level.

Smithville within Lee County

Population over time

3 figures

Smithville fell from 774 to 593 between 2000 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
2000774
2010575-199 (-26%)
2020593+18 (+3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 7 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.

Photographs

4 photographs, 2017

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.

Small swamp in Smithville, Georgia
Small swamp in Smithville, Georgia
Highsmith, Carol M, 2017. Library of Congress
In-town structures (the place is too small to have a "downtown") in tiny Smithville, Georgia
In-town structures (the place is too small to have a "downtown") in tiny Smithville, Georgia
Highsmith, Carol M, 2017. Library of Congress
In-town structures (the place is too small to have a "downtown") in tiny Smithville, Georgia
In-town structures (the place is too small to have a "downtown") in tiny Smithville, Georgia
Highsmith, Carol M, 2017. Library of Congress
Small swamp in Smithville, Georgia
Small swamp in Smithville, Georgia
Highsmith, Carol M, 2017. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

177 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 177 fires within 5 miles of Smithville between 1992 and 2020, burning about 783 acres in total. 9 started naturally. 24 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 burning97
Arson/incendiarism24
Equipment and vehicle use20
Smoking10
Natural9
Missing data/not specified/undetermined8
Misuse of fire by a minor5
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Recreation and ceremony2

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 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named
7 September 1995Arson/incendiarism8.4 acresGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named
6 September 1999Debris and open burning3.0 acresGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named
29 September 2019Debris and open burning4.2 acresGeorgia Forestry CommissionFY2020LEE006
28 September 2003Debris and open burning4.5 acresGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named
2 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreGeorgia Forestry CommissionFY2012-SUMTER-017
17 September 1997Equipment and vehicle use1.4 acresGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named
14 September 1996Debris and open burning2.6 acresGeorgia Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Lee County

Storms near this place

14 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Smithville in 14 storm reports between 1995 and 2026: 10 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
December 2015FloodSmithville$250,000Significant flooding occurred within the Kinchafoonee Creek basin as well as the lower portions of the Muckalee Creek basin. The Kinchafoonee crested at its 3rd highest stage on record, causing significant damage to homes in the area, especially along Century Road. Some homes on North Hampton Road also received flooding from Muckalee Creek. The damage cost was estimated.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindSmithville$3,000Trees and power lines were blown down around Smithville. Monetary damage was estimated.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindSmithville$3,000Several trees were blown down on Church Street in Smithville. The monetary damage figure provided is a rough estimate.
April 2023Thunderstorm WindSmithville$2,000Power lines were blown down in Smithville.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindSmithville$2,000Multiple trees and a power line were blown down around Smithville.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindSmithville$2,000Media relayed a report of trees down and damage to a shed along Airport Road near Smithville.
June 1995Thunderstorm WindSmithville$750Thunderstorm winds knocked over several large trees.
March 2026Thunderstorm WindSmithville-Trees were blown down in the Smithville area.
April 2024Thunderstorm WindSmithville-Trees were blown down off of Pettis Road.
March 2023Thunderstorm WindSmithville-A tree was blown down on Pettis Road.
July 2017Thunderstorm WindSmithville-The public reported via social media that a 40 ft tree blew over in Smithville.
April 2006HailSmithville-The Lee County EMA reported quarter size hail.
August 2002HailSmithville-Quarter size hail reported by the Lee County Sheriff.
April 2022HailSmithville-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Lee 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
Edwards (historical)2.8 miles7
Eagle Pond3.1 miles9
Scrutchins3.8 miles9
Neyami5.6 miles9
Jordan Place10.2 miles9
Starksville10.5 miles9
Chokee10.7 miles9
Mossy Dell12.1 miles10

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 SmithvilleAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2930936The 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 356540. 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.