Rochester, Kentucky

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1911 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Rochester census division. It lies in ZIP code area 42273. It stands on Panther Creek. The Survey maps it on the Rochester quadrangle. 114 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 410 feet above sea level.

Rochester within Butler County

Population over time

2 figures

Rochester fell from 152 to 114 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	152
2020	114	-38 (-25%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 11 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.

1911 USGS Dunmor quadrangle1:48000
1914 USGS Dunmor quadrangle1:62500
1953 USGS Rochester quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
1954 USGS Evansville quadrangle1:250000
1957 USGS Evansville quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
1961 USGS Evansville quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
1981 USGS Beaver Dam quadrangle1:100000

Fires near this place

19 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 19 fires within 5 miles of Rochester between 1998 and 2017, burning about 346 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 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	8
Recreation and ceremony	4
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	4
Arson/incendiarism	2
Smoking	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
9 March 2001	Debris and open burning	2.0 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	not named
26 March 1998	Smoking	120 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	not named
22 March 2009	Recreation and ceremony	12 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	not named
20 March 2003	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	50 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	not named
12 March 2007	Recreation and ceremony	3.0 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	not named
11 March 2001	Arson/incendiarism	1.0 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	not named
10 March 2013	Debris and open burning	49 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	SHIFTING WINDS
7 February 2001	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	25 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Butler County

Storms near this place

29 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rochester in 29 storm reports between 1998 and 2018: 23 flood, 5 thunderstorm wind, 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
May 2010	Flood	Rochester	$75,000	The Green River at Rochester Ferry crested at 28.6 feet around 6 AM EST on May 7. Flood stage at Rochester is 17 feet. Moderate flooding occurs at this level, with water in basements of some homes in Rochester. Sections of Kentucky Highway 70 and Highway 1117 were closed by high water.
February 2018	Flood	Rochester	-	The Green River at Rochester went into minor flood. The river crested at 23.4 feet on February 27 and remained above flood through the end of the month.
July 2016	Flood	Rochester	-	Several rounds of slow moving thunderstorms brought the Green River at Rochester into minor flood. The river crested at an estimated 20 feet on July 10, about 3 feet above flood stage.
March 2015	Flood	Rochester	-	Several inches of snow followed by 1 to 2 inches of rain resulted in the Green River at Rochester to rise above flood stage. The river was estimated to have crested at 22.2 feet during the evening hours of March 16th. The river dropped below flood stage early on March 19th.
February 2015	Flood	Rochester	-	Melting snow, combined with heavy rain on the 21st that totaled over 2 inches at nearby Bowling Green, brought the Green River into flood at Rochester. Flood stage is 17 feet, with the crest peaking at 17.2 feet during the afternoon of the 24th of February.
April 2014	Flood	Rochester	-	Minor flooding developed on the Green River at Rochester as a result of heavy rains earlier across south central Kentucky. Flood stage at Rochester is 17 feet. The river crested at 17.9 feet during the early morning hours hours.
July 2013	Flood	Rochester	-	Heavy rains in early July led to flooding on the Green River at several locations. The river flooded Rochester, cresting at 18.2 feet during the early morning hours on the 9th of July. Flood stage at Rochester is 17 feet.
March 2013	Flood	Rochester	-	Heavy rain across south central Kentucky on March brought minor flooding to the Green River. This river crested at 17.4 feet at Rochester during the mid-morning hours on March 21st. Flood stage is 17 feet.
May 2013	Flood	Rochester	-	Heavy rains from May 4th to May 5th lead to some minor flooding on the Green River at Rochester Ferry several days later. Flood stage at Rochester is 17 feet. The river crested at 17.7 feet during the early morning hours on the 5th of May.
May 2013	Flood	Rochester	-	Heavy rains on April 27 brought minor flooding to the Green River at Rochester on May 1st. Just after midnight on May 1st, the river was already in flood, having exceeded its flood stage of 17 feet during the early morning hours on April 30th. It crested at 17.8 feet around noon on May 1st, falling below flood stage by 6 am on May 2nd.
January 2013	Flood	Rochester	-	Several days of heavy rain led to minor flooding on the Green River at Rochester Ferry. Flood stage at Rochester Ferry is 17 feet. The Green River crested at 18.6 feet during the evening hours on January 16th.
July 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Rochester	-	Local law enforcement reported that several trees were downed along State Highway 70 near Rochester.
February 2011	Flood	Rochester	-	The Green River at Rochester did not crest until the afternoon of March 3, and remained above flood stage until early in the morning on March 14.
April 2011	Flood	Rochester	-	The Green River at Rochester was estimated to crest at 21.4 feet. The estimated crest time was around 5 AM CST on April 15. Minor flooding occurs at this level.
April 2011	Flood	Rochester	-	The Green River at Rochester rose above flood stage around 12 AM CST on April 25. The river was still rising at the end of the month, and would not crest at 25.9 feet until May 6. Flood stage at Rochester is 17 feet.
November 2011	Flood	Rochester	-	The Green River rose above flood stage at Rochester late in the day on November 29th. It would crest later in December. Flood stage is 17 feet.
May 2011	Flood	Rochester	-	The Green River at Rochester crested at 25.9 feet around 5 AM CST on May 6. Flood stage at Rochester is 17 feet. Moderate flooding occurs at this level, with water entering the basements of some homes in Rochester.
December 2011	Flood	Rochester	-	The Green River at Rochester experienced minor flooding for several days. The river crested at 19.6 feet during the pre-dawn hours on December 8th. Flood stage is 17 feet.
December 2011	Flood	Rochester	-	The Green River at Rochester crested at 18.0 feet around 4 AM CST on December 1. The river had been above flood stage since late November Flood stage at Rochester is 17 feet. Minor flooding occurs at this level.
June 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Rochester	-	Local media reported a tree down in the town of Rochester.
March 2011	Flood	Rochester	-	The Green River at Rochester crested around 20.4 feet on the evening of March 3. Minor flooding occurs at this level. Additional heavy rains held the river above flood stage through the second week of March. All times and stages associated with this flooding event are estimated.
February 2009	Flood	Rochester	-	The Green River at Rochester began flooding on January 29th at 0600 and stayed above flood stage, which is 17 feet, until February 3rd at 1630. The river crested at 20.4 feet, 3.4 feet above flood stage, on February 1st at 1200.
June 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Rochester	-	Trees were downed in Rochester.
August 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Rochester	-	Trees were downed near Rochester.
March 2008	Flood	Rochester	-	The Green River at Rochester crested at 20.5 feet around 5 AM CST on March 22. Flood stage at Rochester is 17 feet. Minor flooding occurs at this level, with ferry operations shut down.
February 2008	Flood	Rochester	-	The Green River at Rochester crested at 18.0 feet around 7 AM EST on February 9. Flood stage at Rochester is 17 feet. Minor flooding occurs at this level.
March 2008	Flood	Rochester	-	The Green River at Rochester crested at 19.3 feet around 405 PM CST on March 6. Flood stage at Rochester is 17 feet. Minor flooding occurs at this level, with ferry operations shut down.
July 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Rochester	-	Trees were downed along Highway 70.
June 1998	Hail	Rochester	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Butler 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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Pleasant Hill	2.7 miles	11
Hope (historical)	3.3 miles	11
Huntsville	3.4 miles	11
Provo	3.7 miles	11
South Hill	5.3 miles	11
McPhersons (historical)	5.9 miles	11
Silver City	6.1 miles	11
Mining City	6.1 miles	11

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 Rochester	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3001264	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 502100. 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.