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Loretto, Kentucky

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Loretto census division. It lies in ZIP code area 40037. The Survey maps it on the Loretto quadrangle. 723 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 738 feet above sea level.

Loretto within Marion County

On record in Loretto

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 2 records

Surveyed buildings and structures 4 records

Population over time

3 figures

Loretto grew from 623 to 723 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
2000623
2010713+90 (+14%)
2020723+10 (+1%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 8 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,

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.

Burks' Makers Mark Distillery, Loretto, Marion County, KY
Burks' Makers Mark Distillery, Loretto, Marion County, KY
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Burk's Makers Mark Distillery, Quart House, 3 miles East of Loretto, Loretto, Marion County, KY
Burk's Makers Mark Distillery, Quart House, 3 miles East of Loretto, Loretto, Marion County, KY
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Burk's Makers Mark Distillery, Bonded Warehouse D, 3 miles East of Loretto, Loretto, Marion County, KY
Burk's Makers Mark Distillery, Bonded Warehouse D, 3 miles East of Loretto, Loretto, Marion County, KY
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Burk's Makers Mark Distillery, Bonded Warehouse A, 3 miles East of Loretto, Loretto, Marion County, KY
Burk's Makers Mark Distillery, Bonded Warehouse A, 3 miles East of Loretto, Loretto, Marion County, KY
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

3 since 2012

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of Loretto between 2012 and 2016, burning about 56 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 burning2
Recreation and ceremony1

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
27 March 2014Debris and open burning5.0 acresKentucky Division of ForestrySPENCER HAMILTON
28 February 2016Recreation and ceremony12 acresKentucky Division of ForestryHAZY DOWNS RD. FIRE
27 February 2012Debris and open burning39 acresKentucky Division of ForestrySULPHER LI

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Marion County

Storms near this place

15 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Loretto in 15 storm reports between 2002 and 2025: 11 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
April 2018Thunderstorm WindLoretto$10,000Law enforcement reported power poles down in the area.
May 2006Thunderstorm WindLoretto$10,000Trees were uprooted. Several metal outbuildings were destroyed.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindLoretto-Multiple trees were blown down in the Loretto area.
December 2025Thunderstorm WindLoretto-A 64 mph wind gust was observed at the Marion County Kentucky Mesonet station LRTO.
May 2018Thunderstorm WindLoretto-Trees reported down on Loretto Road.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindLoretto-Trained spotters reported trees down in the area.
July 2013Thunderstorm WindLoretto-The Marian County emergency manager reported that a tree was toppled next to State Highway 49.
October 2009Thunderstorm WindLoretto-A NWS Survey Team found straight line wind damage beginning near West Marion Elementary School on HWY 49 just east of Loretto with some tree damage. The damage continued southeast to Sam Browning Road, where a feeding barn was destroyed and 50 cows were pinned against a wall. A 500 pound horse trailer was rolled 65 yards from west to east. On Cowherd Lane, two tobacco barns were partially destroyed along with two metal barns. There were also trees downed in a west-to-east orientation. ||The damage encompassed an area about four tenths of a mile wide and six miles long. No injuries were reported.
June 2003Flash FloodLoretto-Near Loretto, three mobile homes were washed into a nearby creek. Five people were rescued, one with injuries. A bridge was washed out at Wimsatt Road.
January 2022Thunderstorm WindLoretto-no account filed
July 2018HailLoretto-no account filed
June 2017Thunderstorm WindLoretto-no account filed
July 2007Thunderstorm WindLoretto-no account filed
March 2006HailLoretto-no account filed
April 2002HailLoretto-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Marion 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
Saint Francis1.6 miles8
Nerinx2.0 miles8
Burkes Spring2.9 miles7
Dant2.9 miles8
Downs (historical)3.3 miles8
Gandertown3.3 miles8
Frogtown3.4 miles6
Beantown (historical)3.5 miles7

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 LorettoAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3180651The 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 497170. 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.