Mortons Gap, Kentucky
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1912 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Madisonville census division. It lies in ZIP code area 42440. The Survey maps it on the Nortonville quadrangle. 728 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 472 feet above sea level.
On record in Mortons Gap
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
W. W. Kington Houselisted 1988
Population over time
3 figuresMortons Gap fell from 952 to 728 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 | 952 | |
| 2010 | 863 | -89 (-9%) |
| 2020 | 728 | -135 (-16%) |
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.
- 1912 USGS Nortonville quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1953 USGS Nortonville quadrangle1:24000
- 1954 USGS Evansville quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Evansville quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1961 USGS Evansville quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1963 USGS Nortonville quadrangle1:24000
- 1983 USGS Madisonville quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
42 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 42 fires within 5 miles of Mortons Gap between 1997 and 2017, burning about 627 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 5 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 | 14 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 6 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 5 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 5 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Natural | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | B & K SAWMILL |
| 6 September 2010 | Recreation and ceremony | 10 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | LABOR |
| 20 August 2007 | Debris and open burning | 74 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 10 August 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 10 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 23 July 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 2.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 1 July 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Kentucky Division of Forestry | ROCK SPARK |
| 27 June 2012 | Debris and open burning | 3.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | WHITECITY |
| 24 May 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Kentucky Division of Forestry | EARLINGTON |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
19 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Mortons Gap in 19 storm reports between 2006 and 2021: 6 thunderstorm wind, 5 flood, 2 hail, 2 heavy rain. 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 2008 | Flood | Mortons Gap | $150,000 | Near Mortons Gap, the entrance to the southbound Pennyrile Parkway on-ramp was under two to three feet of water. Highway 813 at Mortons Gap was under an inch of water. Countywide, many roads were covered with water. Roads were closed, especially in the north portion of the county. Highway 109 was closed for a few days. Main Street in Madisonville was partially closed. Flooding caused significant damage to at least three businesses in a mall in Madisonville. Up to six inches of water on the floor of a grocery store damaged inventory. Additional damage to inventory occurred when power was cut to the mall for safety reasons. The mall parking lot was flooded up to a depth of three feet, and a car was submerged over the headlights. |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mortons Gap | $50,000 | The roof was blown off a house in Mortons Gap. Around White Plains, trees were blown down on some roads. Utility poles were snapped in Nortonville. |
| September 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mortons Gap | $30,000 | A trailer was overturned near Mortons Gap. |
| April 2021 | Flash Flood | Mortons Gap | $10,000 | One foot of water was flowing over Flat Creek Road, making it impassable. There was some flooding of a nearby logging business. |
| May 2009 | Heavy Rain | Mortons Gap | $10,000 | In Madisonville, stormwater ditches became clogged with debris, causing local flooding of yards, streets, and some outbuildings. In one neighborhood, water was up to seven inches deep in a garage. Several roads near Hanson were briefly under water. At Mortons Gap, water was flowing across U.S. Highway 41. |
| June 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mortons Gap | $5,000 | Power lines were blown down. |
| April 2011 | Tornado (EF0) | Mortons Gap | $2,000 | Tree limbs were blown down, along with small signs. This very brief tornado, which was witnessed by trained spotters, contained estimated winds of 70 mph. |
| March 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mortons Gap | $1,000 | Tree limbs were down on a road. |
| January 2021 | Flood | Mortons Gap | - | Three inches of water covered Highway 813 near exit 108 of the Pennyrile Parkway / Interstate 69. |
| October 2017 | Flood | Mortons Gap | - | Flat Creek Road off of Highway 813 was flooded. |
| April 2016 | Funnel Cloud | Mortons Gap | - | A trained spotter reported a funnel cloud just west of Mortons Gap. |
| July 2016 | Flood | Mortons Gap | - | The on-ramp to Interstate 69 from Highway 813 near Mortons Gap was under 6 to 12 inches of water. |
| March 2015 | Flood | Mortons Gap | - | Near Mortons Gap, a southbound ramp of the Pennyrile Parkway interchange was closed due to flooding. Numerous roads were flooded and closed elsewhere around the county, including State Route 270. |
| June 2007 | Heavy Rain | Mortons Gap | - | Minor flooding was reported. |
| June 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mortons Gap | - | At Mortons Gap, a trained spotter estimated wind gusts to 60 MPH. Several trees were down just east of White Plains along Highway 62. |
| April 2018 | Funnel Cloud | Mortons Gap | - | no account filed |
| May 2009 | Hail | Mortons Gap | - | no account filed |
| October 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mortons Gap | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Mortons Gap | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barnsley | 1.6 miles | 12 | |
| Flat Creek (historical) | 1.8 miles | 12 | |
| Oak Hill | 2.1 miles | 12 | |
| Little Valley | 2.5 miles | 12 | |
| Earlington | 3.2 miles | 14 | |
| Homestead (historical) | 3.3 miles | 12 | |
| Nortonville | 3.4 miles | 12 | |
| West Side Heights | 3.8 miles | 14 |
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 Mortons Gap | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3179750 | 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 498645. 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.






