Stella, Kentucky
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1936 and the latest in 1986. It stands in the Kirksey census division. It lies in ZIP code area 42071. The Survey maps it on the Kirksey quadrangle. It stands 568 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 11 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.
- 1936 USGS Kirksey quadrangle1:24000
- 1951 USGS Kirksey quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1951 USGS Murray quadrangle1:62500
- 1956 USGS Dyersburg quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1986 USGS Murray quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
15 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 15 fires within 5 miles of Stella between 1998 and 2010, burning about 38 acres in total. None started naturally. None was 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
| Debris and open burning | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 August 1999 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 11 April 1998 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 8 March 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 6 March 2010 | Recreation and ceremony | 3.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 5 March 2010 | Recreation and ceremony | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 28 March 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 20 March 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 7 December 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.5 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 Stella: 1 prospect, 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Clay, Ball Clay. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cook Branch Clay Bed | Clay | Prospect | ||
| Cooley No. 11 Pit | Ball Clay | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
7 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Stella in 7 storm reports between 2008 and 2023: 4 thunderstorm wind, 1 heavy rain, 1 flash flood, 1 tornado. 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 2023 | Tornado (EF0) | Stella | $100,000 | Several homes sustained shingle damage. One garage slid off its foundation. Several trees were snapped or uprooted. There was roof damage and windows were blown in at a commercial site. The most significant damage occurred along Poor Farm Road. Peak winds were estimated near 85 mph. |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Stella | $90,000 | Hundreds of trees and limbs were blown down, mostly uprooted. Some trees were snapped ten feet off the ground. A portion of Highway 121 was impassable for several hours due to downed limbs and power poles. Some power lines were down across a semi on the road. A tree landed on a mobile home, destroying it. Large shop doors were caved in near Penny. |
| July 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Stella | $70,000 | A swath of downed tree limbs extended from about 5 miles west of Murray into the city of Murray. Many large limbs were down on Highway 783 just south of Stella, and aluminum trim was blown off a house. Six-inch diameter tree limbs were down a mile west of Murray, and a large tree was down across power lines. Wind gusts were measured up to 70 mph in Murray, where a roof was blown off a building. A number of trees were down in Murray. There were over 30 reports of trees landing across roads in Calloway County. |
| December 2013 | Flash Flood | Stella | $40,000 | The main street through the center of Murray was nearly impassable in spots. Cars were stalling out in the roadway. Floodwaters from a city creek were backing into homes. Highway 80 north of Murray was impassable in spots. A water rescue was conducted on a residential street on the south side of Murray. Five people were stranded on top of a jeep. A heavily travelled access road was closed in a business strip of Murray along the Highway 121 bypass. A mile west of Hazel, a car was swept off the road. The occupants were rescued. Several roadways around Lynn Grove had areas of standing water. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Stella | - | At the Calloway County fairgrounds on Highway 121 west of Murray, carnival rides were damaged and several tents were blown down. At Almo, trees were down. |
| February 2011 | Heavy Rain | Stella | - | In western parts of the county, water was over Kentucky Highways 299 and 783 in spots. |
| December 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Stella | - | A trained spotter estimated a wind gust to 60 mph. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Penny | 2.0 miles | 12 | |
| Coldwater | 3.2 miles | 11 | |
| North Murray | 3.3 miles | 13 | |
| Five Points | 3.9 miles | 13 | |
| Wiswell | 4.0 miles | 10 | |
| Kirksey | 4.0 miles | 11 | |
| Lynn Grove | 4.2 miles | 10 | |
| Utterback (historical) | 4.3 miles | 12 |
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 Stella | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q14691278 | 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 509123. 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.




