BlockBefore

Central City, Kentucky

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1909 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the Central City census division. It lies in ZIP code area 42330. The Survey maps it on the Central City East quadrangle. 5,819 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 436 feet above sea level.

Central City within Muhlenberg County

On record in Central City

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

Population over time

2 figures

Central City fell from 5,978 to 5,819 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
20105,978
20205,819-159 (-3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 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.

Photographs

3 photographs, 1940

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.

Boys in soft drink parlor. Central City, Kentucky
Boys in soft drink parlor. Central City, Kentucky
Vachon, John, 1940. Library of Congress
Boys in soft drink parlor. Central City, Kentucky
Boys in soft drink parlor. Central City, Kentucky
Vachon, John, 1940. Library of Congress
Boys in soft drink parlor. Central City, Kentucky
Boys in soft drink parlor. Central City, Kentucky
Vachon, John, 1940. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

61 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 61 fires within 5 miles of Central City between 1997 and 2019, burning about 2,023 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 12 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined22
Debris and open burning13
Arson/incendiarism12
Recreation and ceremony9
Smoking1
Natural1
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Equipment and vehicle use1
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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
22 September 2010Debris and open burning15 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
13 September 2002Debris and open burning20 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
11 September 2002Debris and open burning20 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
11 August 2010Debris and open burning13 acresKentucky Division of ForestryMAGAZINE
3 July 2012Natural1.1 acresKentucky Division of ForestryBIG TREE S
25 July 2000Railroad operations and maintenance138 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
13 July 2000Arson/incendiarism120 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
28 June 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreKentucky Division of ForestryBLIND FIRE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Muhlenberg County

Storms near this place

38 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Central City in 38 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 13 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 8 flash flood, 3 heavy rain. The reports record 1 death and 2 injuries. 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
March 1997Flash FloodCentral City1 killed, $300,000no account filed
June 2018Thunderstorm WindCentral City2 hurt, $30,000Multiple large trees and power lines were blown down from the Central City area to near Drakesboro. About 4 miles south of Central City, one tree fell on a mobile home, injuring two people. The injuries were not serious. Numerous trees were down along U.S. Highway 431.
August 2022Flash FloodCentral City$150,000Numerous streets were closed in Central City, including South 2nd Street and Broad Street. A water rescue was conducted on Taylor Road. A car was submerged. At least three feet of water were inside a home. Homes on Pattontown Drive in Central City were evacuated. Flooding was reported on Highway 175 near the interchange with the West Kentucky Parkway near Graham. Two separate rainfall totals over 6 inches were measured in Central City. Totals of 6.02 and 6.39 inches were measured by separate personal weather stations in Central City between midnight and 7 AM.
January 2023Flash FloodCentral City$50,000Significant flash flooding was reported. A few water rescues were conducted. Water was in a few residences. Numerous roads were closed due to flooding throughout the county. The state highways that were closed were Kentucky 181, Kentucky 2590, and Kentucky 2533. Rainfall amounts of 2 to 5 inches were reported. The highest 24-hour rainfall report in the county was 4.98 inches from a Cocorahs observer near Bancroft.
October 2019Flash FloodCentral City$35,000Floodwater entered an apartment complex in Greenville. Numerous streets in Greenville were flooded or impassable. Rising water threatened homes in the Central City area.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindCentral City$30,000Thunderstorm winds blew down numerous trees and power lines in Central City.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindCentral City$20,000Numerous trees and power lines were down.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindCentral City$20,000Large trees and power lines were blown down. A trained spotter estimated wind gusts around 70 mph.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindCentral City$15,000A number of trees were down throughout the community.
October 2000Thunderstorm WindCentral City$10,000Trees were down, and power outages were reported.
May 1996Thunderstorm WindCentral City$10,000no account filed
May 2009Flash FloodCentral City$8,000Many roads were flooded in Powderly and Central City. Near Greenville, three to four feet of water flooded a farm, and horses had to be evacuated.
May 2017Thunderstorm WindCentral City$7,000Small trees and several large limbs were blown down. A tree was down across the Western Kentucky Parkway just west of the Central City exit.
August 2014Tornado (EF0)Central City$7,000This small tornado blew down several small trees and limbs in multiple directions along County Road 1011. There were numerous reports of this brief touchdown that snapped trees and damaged a cornfield. Peak winds were estimated near 75 mph.
October 2010Thunderstorm WindCentral City$5,000Some tree and shingle damage occurred on the north side of Central City. A trained spotter confirmed wind gusts of around 60 mph.
August 2019Thunderstorm WindCentral City$2,000Small tree limbs were broken off in the Greenville and Central City areas.
February 2011Thunderstorm WindCentral City$2,000A trained spotter measured a wind gust to 62 mph. Trees were down along U.S. Highway 431.
March 1995HailCentral City$1,000no account filed
February 1993HailCentral City$500no account filed
February 2025Flash FloodCentral City-Flash flooding closed a portion of Highway 1379 northeast of Central city. Several other county roads were also closed from Central City to Powderly and Greenville.
July 2024Flash FloodCentral City-The S 2nd St underpass under the West Kentucky Parkway flooded in Central City. A CWOP station in Central City reported 4.48in of rain from 2200-0130CST.
March 2023Thunderstorm WindCentral City-The Kentucky mesonet site measured a wind gust to 65 mph.
September 2021FloodCentral City-Minor street flooding occurred.
June 2020FloodCentral City-Street flooding was reported. A report was received from the public of 4.50 inches of rain, most of which fell in three hours.
May 2017Thunderstorm WindCentral City-A wind gust to 64 mph was measured at the Kentucky mesonet site six miles north of Greenville, near Central City.
April 2016Funnel CloudCentral City-A funnel cloud was reported with the supercell thunderstorm that produced golf ball size hail from Bremen eastward.
June 2016FloodCentral City-Street flooding was reported at several locations in Central City.
August 2013Heavy RainCentral City-Water was reported over some roads in Central City.
August 2012Heavy RainCentral City-Several roadways and main routes throughout the city had about six inches of water over them.
August 2005Heavy RainCentral City-Low-lying areas were flooded in Central City.
June 2021Funnel CloudCentral City-no account filed
March 2020HailCentral City-no account filed
May 2017HailCentral City-no account filed
March 2016HailCentral City-no account filed
May 2007HailCentral City-no account filed
April 2003HailCentral City-no account filed
June 1998HailCentral City-no account filed
March 1997Flash FloodCentral City-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Muhlenberg 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
Spring Ridge (historical)1.3 miles15
Dovey (historical)1.5 miles16
Cherry Hill (historical)2.4 miles16
Mercer2.9 miles16
Holt3.0 miles15
Prospect (historical)3.1 miles16
South Carrollton3.2 miles16
Morehead3.2 miles16

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 Central CityAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1012203The 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 489282. 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.