Lynch, Kentucky
20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1894 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Cumberland census division. It lies in ZIP code area 40855. It stands on Big Branch. The Survey maps it on the Benham quadrangle. 658 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,716 feet above sea level.
On record in Lynch
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
Lynch Historic Districtlisted 2003
Population over time
2 figuresLynch fell from 747 to 658 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 | 747 | |
| 2020 | 658 | -89 (-12%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
12 surveys from 20 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.
- 1894 USGS Estillville quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1921 USGS Big Stone Gap quadrangle1:48000
- 1922 USGS Big Stone Gap quadrangle1:62500
- 1929 USGS Big Stone Gap quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1935 USGS Benham quadrangle1:24000
- 1954 USGS Benham quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1955 USGS Johnson City quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Johnson City quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Johnson City quadrangle1:250000
- 1963 USGS Johnson City quadrangle1:250000
- 1976 USGS Benham quadrangle1:24000
- 1981 USGS Bristol quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
66 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 66 fires within 5 miles of Lynch between 1995 and 2020, burning about 7,020 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 13 were 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 | 26 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 13 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 28 June 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.5 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | CHUCK FIRE |
| 23 June 2008 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 21 June 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 20 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 19 June 2008 | Natural | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 7 May 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 190 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | SAND HILL |
| 8 April 2011 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | LYNCH |
| 8 April 2002 | Debris and open burning | 700 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 Lynch: 1 past producer, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| J.H. Mills Prospect | Iron | Prospect | ||
| Orebank Ridge | Iron | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
7 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lynch in 7 storm reports between 1995 and 2018: 5 thunderstorm wind, 2 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 2018 | Flood | Lynch | - | Kentucky Highway 160 was closed through Lynch due to flooding. A written state of emergency was declared for Harlan County during the height of the flooding. |
| August 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lynch | - | Department of Highway officials reported a tree down along Kentucky Highway 160 near Lynch. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lynch | - | The Department of Highways reported trees down near Lynch. |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lynch | - | Two trees were blown down on Hwy 160. |
| April 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lynch | - | Few trees and large limbs down. |
| May 2001 | Flood | Lynch | - | Rock slides were reported on Kentucky Highway 160 near Black Mountain. |
| June 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lynch | - | Several trees fell on power lines knocking out power for several hours. |
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.
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 Lynch | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2012501 | 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 497363. 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.











