Hays, Kentucky
24 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1922 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Smiths Grove census division. It lies in ZIP code area 42171. It stands on Sinking Branch. The Survey maps it on the Smiths Grove quadrangle. It stands 676 feet above sea level.
On record in Hays
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
- James Hays Houselisted 1979
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 24 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.
- 1922 USGS Mammoth Cave quadrangle1:62500, 7 printings
- 1923 USGS Mammoth Cave quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1954 USGS Evansville quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Smiths Grove quadrangle1:24000
- 1957 USGS Evansville quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1961 USGS Evansville quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1966 USGS Smiths Grove quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1981 USGS Beaver Dam quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
16 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 16 fires within 5 miles of Hays between 2000 and 2012, burning about 130 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 | 7 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
| Debris and open burning | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 April 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 6.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | HAYS FIRE |
| 7 March 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | 2.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 6 March 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 20 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 6 March 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 21 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 3 March 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9.5 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 15 March 2000 | Debris and open burning | 4.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 15 March 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 12 March 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 5.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Hays: 1 past producer, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Park City Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Smith Grove No. 3 Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
4 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Hays in 4 storm reports between 2006 and 2020: 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 hail. 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 2018 | Tornado (EF1) | Hays | $250,000 | The tornado touched down near the intersection of Hays Pondsville Rd and FH Roundtree Rd, destroying a small metal shed, overturning a trailer, flattening a fence, and causing minor roof damage to a home. The very narrow tornado - only 30 to 50 yards wide - continued northeast, uprooting trees and damaging outbuildings on neighboring property, including breaking out all of the windows of one building. The path continued northeast over open countryside, snapping tree limbs of several trees. It then tore the porch off the east side of a home on the south side of Highway 68-80, depositing debris into nearby woods. ||Crossing 68-80, the tornado did its greatest damage, tearing a very large pine tree out of the ground and tossing it 100 feet over a home, spattering the front of the home with mud, ripping holes in the roof, and destroying the attached garage. Despite this intense damage, an open-sided outbuilding just 25 yards away suffered no visible damage. Continuing northeast, the tornado snapped several more trees before destroying two more outbuildings, scattering debris a quarter of a mile downwind. The tornado also damaged the roof of a home 100 feet east of the outbuildings, and did porch, deck, and roof damage to the neighboring residence, plastering the east side of the home with insulation. Crossing over Lewis Rd into Barren County, the roof of a sunroom was torn of the next home and an outbuilding destroyed. The tornado then moved over open countryside where drone footage showed it deposited the remainder of its debris. The total path length of the tornado in both counties was 1.9 miles. |
| March 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hays | $20,000 | A tree was blown on to a mobile home. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hays | - | Trees were reported down along US Highways 68 and 80. |
| March 2020 | Hail | Hays | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stoney Point (historical) | 2.2 miles | 24 | |
| Pondsville | 2.9 miles | 9 | |
| Smiths Grove | 3.9 miles | 24 | |
| Hydro | 4.0 miles | 9 | |
| Kepler | 5.1 miles | 9 | |
| Amos Farm (historical) | 5.5 miles | 24 | |
| Oakland | 5.8 miles | 24 | |
| Little Woodland (historical) | 6.2 miles | 24 |
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 Hays | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q14690564 | 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 493927. 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.







