Gratz, Kentucky
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1906 and the latest in 1986. It stands in the Owenton census division. It lies in ZIP code area 40359. It stands on Lowderbach Branch. The Survey maps it on the Gratz quadrangle. 67 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 449 feet above sea level.
On record in Gratz
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
- Mason Brown Houselisted 1998
Population over time
2 figuresGratz fell from 78 to 67 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 | 78 | |
| 2020 | 67 | -11 (-14%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 12 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.
- 1906 USGS Lockport quadrangle1:62500
- 1906 USGS Lockport quadrangle1:48000
- 1908 USGS Lockport quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1953 USGS Gratz quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1956 USGS Louisville quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1964 USGS Louisville quadrangle1:250000
- 1986 USGS Lexington quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
5 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Gratz between 1997 and 2010, burning about 23 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 May 1998 | Debris and open burning | 8.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 11 April 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 7 March 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 2.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 25 November 1997 | Debris and open burning | 8.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 24 October 2010 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | ROB FIRE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
5 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Gratz: 3 past producers, 1 plant, 1 producer. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Barium-Barite, Lead, Zinc, Lead, Zinc. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lockport Quarry & Plant | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Gratz Mine | Barium-Barite, Lead, Zinc | Past Producer | 1904 | |
| K.T.Dome Mine | Zinc, Lead | Past Producer | ||
| Lockport Mine | Barium-Barite, Lead, Zinc | Past Producer | Barite, Galena, Sphalerite | |
| Twin Valley Mine & Mill | Barium-Barite, Lead, Zinc | Plant |
Storms near this place
12 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Gratz in 12 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 6 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 3 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2023 | Flash Flood | Gratz | $40,000 | A bridge was washed out near Browns Bottom Road and State Route 355. |
| August 2009 | Flash Flood | Gratz | $5,000 | Water was crossing Highway 355 due to flash flooding caused by heavy rainfall. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gratz | $4,000 | Several trees and large limbs were knocked down. One tree was downed and blocking State Route 355 near Gratz. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gratz | $3,000 | Several trees were knocked down along Kentucky Route 355. |
| May 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gratz | $2,000 | A few trees were downed in Gratz. |
| April 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gratz | $2,000 | Numerous trees were reported down across the county. |
| August 2006 | Flash Flood | Gratz | $2,000 | Several roads were flooded. A number of streams rose out of their banks as well. |
| March 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gratz | $1,000 | A tree was downed. |
| March 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gratz | - | Several trees were downed on State Route 355. |
| July 2011 | Hail | Gratz | - | no account filed |
| July 1996 | Hail | Gratz | - | no account filed |
| August 1996 | Hail | Gratz | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pleasant Home | 2.8 miles | 9 | |
| Squiresville | 4.7 miles | 9 | |
| Monterey | 5.6 miles | 12 | |
| Perry Park | 5.7 miles | 9 | |
| Moxley | 6.8 miles | 8 | |
| Cull | 7.2 miles | 9 | |
| Owenton | 7.3 miles | 9 | |
| New | 8.2 miles | 12 |
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 Gratz | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2618137 | 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 493173. 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.






