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.
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
Burks' DistilleryNational Historic Landmark · listed 1974- Loretto Historic Districtlisted 2014
Surveyed buildings and structures 4 records
- Burk's Makers Mark Distillery, Bonded Warehouse A, 3 miles East of Loretto, Lorettofederal building survey, 2 photographs
- Burk's Makers Mark Distillery, Bonded Warehouse D, 3 miles East of Loretto, Lorettofederal building survey, 1 photograph
- Burk's Makers Mark Distillery, Quart House, 3 miles East of Loretto, Lorettofederal building survey, 1 photograph
- Burks' Makers Mark Distillery, Lorettofederal building survey, 5 photographs
Population over time
3 figuresLoretto 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 623 | |
| 2010 | 713 | +90 (+14%) |
| 2020 | 723 | +10 (+1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 8 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.
- 1953 USGS Loretto quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Winchester quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS Winchester quadrangle1:250000
- 1981 USGS Elizabethtown quadrangle1:100000
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.
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Fires near this place
3 since 2012Regional 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 burning | 2 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 March 2014 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | SPENCER HAMILTON |
| 28 February 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 12 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | HAZY DOWNS RD. FIRE |
| 27 February 2012 | Debris and open burning | 39 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | SULPHER LI |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
15 since 2002Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Loretto | $10,000 | Law enforcement reported power poles down in the area. |
| May 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Loretto | $10,000 | Trees were uprooted. Several metal outbuildings were destroyed. |
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Loretto | - | Multiple trees were blown down in the Loretto area. |
| December 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Loretto | - | A 64 mph wind gust was observed at the Marion County Kentucky Mesonet station LRTO. |
| May 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Loretto | - | Trees reported down on Loretto Road. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Loretto | - | Trained spotters reported trees down in the area. |
| July 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Loretto | - | The Marian County emergency manager reported that a tree was toppled next to State Highway 49. |
| October 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Loretto | - | 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 2003 | Flash Flood | Loretto | - | 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 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Loretto | - | no account filed |
| July 2018 | Hail | Loretto | - | no account filed |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Loretto | - | no account filed |
| July 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Loretto | - | no account filed |
| March 2006 | Hail | Loretto | - | no account filed |
| April 2002 | Hail | Loretto | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saint Francis | 1.6 miles | 8 | |
| Nerinx | 2.0 miles | 8 | |
| Burkes Spring | 2.9 miles | 7 | |
| Dant | 2.9 miles | 8 | |
| Downs (historical) | 3.3 miles | 8 | |
| Gandertown | 3.3 miles | 8 | |
| Frogtown | 3.4 miles | 6 | |
| Beantown (historical) | 3.5 miles | 7 |
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 Loretto | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3180651 | 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 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.



