Columbus, Kentucky

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1939 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Columbus census division. It lies in ZIP code area 42032. The Survey maps it on the Arlington quadrangle. 140 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 459 feet above sea level.

Columbus within Hickman County

On record in Columbus

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

Columbus-Belmont Civil War State Parklisted 1973

Population over time

3 figures

Columbus fell from 229 to 140 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.

Year	People	Change
2000	229
2010	170	-59 (-26%)
2020	140	-30 (-18%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 16 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.

1939 USGS Wickliffe quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
1951 USGS Arlington quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
1952 USGS Wickliffe quadrangle1:62500
1955 USGS Wickliffe quadrangle1:62500
1956 USGS Dyersburg quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
1970 USGS Arlington quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
1972 USGS Wickliffe quadrangle1:62500
1985 USGS Sikeston quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings

Fires near this place

7 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 7 fires within 5 miles of Columbus between 1997 and 2017, burning about 15 acres in total. None started naturally. None was 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
Recreation and ceremony	4
Debris and open burning	2
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	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
3 April 1997	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	not named
4 March 2009	Recreation and ceremony	4.0 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	not named
20 March 2009	Recreation and ceremony	1.0 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	not named
19 March 2010	Recreation and ceremony	2.0 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	not named
4 February 2017	Debris and open burning	5.0 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	WAYNE FREEMAN ROAD
1 December 2005	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	not named
30 October 2010	Recreation and ceremony	1.0 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	GROGAN HOMESTEAD CLEANUP

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Hickman County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Columbus: 2 past producers, 1 producer, 1 prospect. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silica. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
Chalk Bluff Sandstone	Silica	Prospect
Diana G. Dredge	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Dredge Delores	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Unk	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Hickman County

Storms near this place

25 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Columbus in 25 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 10 flood, 9 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 2 flash 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.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
February 2025	Flood	South Columbus	$150,000	Flash flooding from the 15th transitioned to areal flooding early on the 16th around midnight. Flood water continued to close a portion of U.S. 51 south of Clinton, and portions of Highways 123, 239, 1238, 1529, and 58. Numerous county roads were washed out or otherwise sustained some damage.
April 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Columbus	$125,000	Twelve structures were damaged, including a poultry barn that was a total loss. Most of the structures were homes with roof damage. Scattered trees and power lines were down.
May 2011	Flood	Columbus	$100,000	Record flooding occurred along the Mississippi River. The river gages at both Cairo, Illinois and New Madrid, Missouri measured record high levels exceeding the 1937 record flood.
September 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Columbus	$25,000	A large part of the roof was blown off a house. A shed was blown into a nearby field. Numerous large trees were blown down, blocking roads. A large tree fell across State Highway 58 and took down power lines.
June 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Columbus	$20,000	An outbuilding was destroyed and a roof was damaged.
May 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Columbus	$3,000	Trees were down on State Route 1826.
May 2006	Hail	Columbus	$2,000	Golf-ball size hail fell in Clinton, breaking the windshield of a police cruiser. Quarter-size hail fell several miles south of Columbus.
December 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Columbus	$2,000	no account filed
March 2025	Hail	South Columbus	-	Quarter size hail occurred in Columbus.
March 2019	Flood	South Columbus	-	Moderate flooding on the Mississippi River closed some roads. Most of the roads were rural county roads in the flood plain. The prolonged flooding started in February and continued into late March.
February 2019	Flood	Columbus	-	Moderate flooding on the Mississippi River closed some roads. Most of the roads were county roads in the flood plain.
March 2018	Flood	Columbus	-	Moderate flooding continued on the Mississippi River from late February. At New Madrid, Missouri, the river crested at 41.4 feet on March 5, well above the flood stage of 34 feet. Bottomland roads and cropland were submerged. The cropland was mostly dormant this early in the season.
June 2015	Flash Flood	South Columbus	-	Water completely covered Highway 58 between Clinton and Columbus.
April 2008	Flood	Columbus	-	Moderate flooding of the Mississippi River caused a few roads to go underwater, including Highway 123. Highway 123 was closed.
March 2008	Flood	Columbus	-	Water was over U.S. Highway 51 North and Kentucky 58 West. Both are major arteries in the county. Neither was closed.
January 2007	Flash Flood	Columbus	-	Part of Kentucky 307 near the intersection of Kentucky 1529 was washed out. Kentucky 123 was closed at the 14 and 16 mile markers. Water was over Kentucky Highway 80 near Columbus.
May 2003	Hail	Columbus	-	A severe thunderstorm moved southeast from Missouri, across the Mississippi River. This storm had a history of producing large hail in Missouri.
May 1999	Flood	Columbus	-	Thunderstorms produced very heavy rain that totalled 1.40 inches in 40 minutes.
April 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Columbus	-	Trees were blown down.
May 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Columbus	-	Trees were blown down.
February 2018	Flood	Columbus	-	no account filed
June 2011	Flood	Columbus	-	no account filed
May 2011	Hail	Columbus	-	no account filed
July 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Columbus	-	no account filed
September 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Columbus	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Hickman 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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
South Columbus	1.3 miles	18
Bluff	2.1 miles	18
Moss (historical)	3.2 miles	18
Zion (historical)	3.3 miles	18
Midway (historical)	4.3 miles	18
Tar Heel	5.0 miles	18
Scott	5.5 miles	18
Hailwell	5.8 miles	18

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 Columbus	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2170410	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 489887. 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.