BlockBefore

Rockdale, Kentucky

22 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1901 and the latest in 1982. It stands in the Ashland South census division. It lies in ZIP code area 41102. It stands on Shope Creek. The Survey maps it on the Ashland quadrangle. It stands 656 feet above sea level.

Rockdale within Boyd County

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 22 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.

Fires near this place

143 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 143 fires within 5 miles of Rockdale between 1997 and 2020, burning about 1,319 acres in total. None started naturally. 32 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 burning50
Arson/incendiarism32
Missing data/not specified/undetermined29
Recreation and ceremony24
Railroad operations and maintenance3
Smoking2
Equipment and vehicle use2
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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
7 September 1998Arson/incendiarism10 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
7 September 1998Recreation and ceremony5.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
24 September 2019Debris and open burning1.0 acresKentucky Division of ForestryELIZABETH COURT
21 September 2007Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
12 August 1998Equipment and vehicle use10 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
4 July 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreKentucky Division of ForestryREBEL ROAD
19 June 2007Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
3 May 2018Arson/incendiarism3.0 acresKentucky Division of ForestryBUCK HAVEN

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Boyd County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Rockdale: 1 producer, 1 past producer, 1 unknown. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Clay, 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Armco Steel/ Ashland, Ky.IronUnknown
Clinton Shale MineClayPast Producer
Princess Mine Big RunClayProducer

Every working recorded in Boyd County

Storms near this place

5 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rockdale in 5 storm reports between 2005 and 2025: 2 flood, 1 hail, 1 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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
May 2016Flash FloodRockdale$25,000Streams overflowed and blocked roads. Shope Creek washed out a section of Route 538.
February 2010FloodRockdale$1,000Shope Creek flooded roads including Route 538.
April 2025FloodRockdale-Flooding was observed on Shopes Creek Road.
March 2023Thunderstorm WindRockdale-Near the community of Rockdale, a tree fell onto power lines and resulted in power outages for 62 customers.
June 2005HailRockdale-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Boyd 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
Meads0.7 miles22
Summit1.5 miles22
Cannonsburg2.1 miles22
Little Garner (historical)2.4 miles22
Winslow2.5 miles22
Ironville2.6 miles22
Princess3.3 miles22
West Fairview3.4 miles22

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 RockdaleAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7355011The 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 502159. 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.