Stearns, Kentucky
16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1890 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Stearns-Whitley City census division. It lies in ZIP code area 42647. It lies near American Legion Knoll. The Survey maps it on the Whitley City quadrangle. 1,365 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,339 feet above sea level.
On record in Stearns
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
Stearns Administrative and Commercial Districtlisted 1988- Stearns Golf Courselisted 2015
Population over time
3 figuresStearns fell from 1,586 to 1,365 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 | 1,586 | |
| 2010 | 1,416 | -170 (-11%) |
| 2020 | 1,365 | -51 (-4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 16 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.
- 1890 USGS Williamsburg quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1894 USGS Williamsburg quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1952 USGS Whitley City quadrangle1:24000
- 1956 USGS Corbin quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Corbin quadrangle1:250000
- 1963 USGS Whitley City quadrangle1:24000
- 1979 USGS Whitley City quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1981 USGS Corbin quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
161 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 161 fires within 5 miles of Stearns between 1992 and 2020, burning about 2,978 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 102 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 |
|---|---|
| Arson/incendiarism | 102 |
| Debris and open burning | 24 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 8 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
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 September 2008 | Natural | 5.0 acres | Daniel Boone National Forest | YAHOO ARCH |
| 9 September 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 13 acres | Daniel Boone National Forest | ARCHER |
| 8 September 2007 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Daniel Boone National Forest | RAILROAD |
| 30 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | 150 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 30 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | 40 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 27 September 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 5.0 acres | Daniel Boone National Forest | COON |
| 24 September 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | HWY 1651 |
| 24 September 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 3.0 acres | Daniel Boone National Forest | PINE KNOT |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
30 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Stearns in 30 storm reports between 1996 and 2020: 16 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail, 4 flash flood, 3 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Stearns | $2,000,000 | Dispatch reported a couple of very large storage buildings, composed of metal siding and wood framing, were destroyed as severe thunderstorm winds moved through south of Whitley City. |
| March 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Stearns | $15,000 | Trees and power lines were blown down in Stearns. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Stearns | $15,000 | Three power poles and several trees were blown down on Highway 1363 near Stearns. |
| April 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Stearns | $10,000 | The superintendent of McCreary county schools reported that the McCreary County Middle sustained damage from the storm. Several ridge caps were torn from the roof of the school and the press box at the football field was completely ripped off the bleachers. |
| March 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Stearns | $10,000 | Trees were blown down on Highways 1470, 742, and 1045. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Stearns | $10,000 | Numerous large tree limbs the size of a mans upper arm were torn from trees on Pigskin Road by thunderstorm wind gusts. |
| March 2002 | Flash Flood | Stearns | $10,000 | A trained spotter reported 4.3 inches of rain had fallen since March 16. This resulted in repeated episodes of flash flooding and numerous road closures. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Stearns | $5,000 | Two trees were blown down, including one that fell on a truck. |
| July 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Stearns | $2,000 | Trees and power lines were blown down by thunderstorm winds. |
| August 2001 | Flash Flood | Stearns | $2,000 | Heavy rains brought flooding across the area. Highways 791, 742, and 1651 had to be cleared of debris after water covered the roads. Four to five inch deep ruts were also left in many gravel roads across the area. |
| November 2010 | Flood | Stearns | $1,000 | Rock Creek is out of its banks. |
| March 2020 | Hail | Stearns | - | A citizen observed nickel sized hail in Stearns. |
| August 2018 | Hail | Stearns | - | A trained spotter observed nickel sized hail in Stearns. |
| June 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Stearns | - | Trees were blown down and part of a metal roof was blown off of a structure. |
| June 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Stearns | - | Multiple trees were blown down in and around Stearns. Hume Street and Golf Course Road were blocked by downed trees at one point. A power pole was snapped off near Golf Course. A garage had its roof blown off and a large sign in town was twisted and blown down. Power outages were reported around the area as well. |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Stearns | - | Small trees were blown down on Hwy 742 a mile and a half southwest of Revelo. |
| February 2011 | Heavy Rain | Stearns | - | The McCreary county emergency manager measured a rainfall amount of 1.59 inches in Stearns. |
| August 2010 | Heavy Rain | Stearns | - | A volunteer weather observer reported that 3.39 inches of rain had fallen in Stearns since 7 am. |
| August 2010 | Heavy Rain | Stearns | - | The McCreary County EM measured 2.77 inches of rain in Stearns between 6 am and 245 pm. |
| April 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Stearns | - | Numerous trees and tree limbs down across the roads in Stearns and Revelo. |
| May 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Stearns | - | Downed trees reported throughout county. Power lost in western portion of county. |
| April 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Stearns | - | A few trees down. |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Stearns | - | Trees were down. |
| June 2001 | Flash Flood | Stearns | - | Heavy rains caused water to flow over several roads in the area. |
| July 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Stearns | - | 20 trees reported blown down. |
| February 2009 | Hail | Stearns | - | no account filed |
| May 2009 | Hail | Stearns | - | no account filed |
| April 2006 | Hail | Stearns | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Stearns | - | no account filed |
| September 1996 | Flash Flood | Stearns | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revelo | 1.1 miles | 16 | |
| Smith Town | 1.5 miles | 9 | |
| Hickory Grove | 1.7 miles | 16 | |
| Whitley City | 1.7 miles | 16 | |
| Barthell | 2.7 miles | 9 | |
| Worley | 3.0 miles | 9 | |
| Marshes Siding | 3.1 miles | 16 | |
| Hill Top | 3.4 miles | 9 |
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 Stearns | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q547952 | 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 515673. 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.







