Van Lear, Kentucky
17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1992. It stands in the Paintsville census division. It lies in ZIP code area 41265. It stands on Webb Branch. The Survey maps it on the Paintsville quadrangle. 893 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 643 feet above sea level.
On record in Van Lear
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
Mine No. 5 Storelisted 1989
Population over time
2 figuresVan Lear fell from 1,857 to 893 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 | 1,857 | |
| 2020 | 893 | -964 (-52%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 17 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.
- 1886 USGS Prestonsburg quadrangle1:125000
- 1892 USGS Prestonsburg quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1915 USGS Paintsville quadrangle1:48000
- 1917 USGS Paintsville quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1954 USGS Paintsville quadrangle1:24000
- 1957 USGS Jenkins quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Jenkins quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Paintsville quadrangle1:24000
- 1971 USGS Paintsville quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1982 USGS Williamson quadrangle1:100000
- 1992 USGS Paintsville quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
225 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 225 fires within 5 miles of Van Lear between 1997 and 2020, burning about 6,187 acres in total. None started naturally. 50 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 | 75 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 50 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 47 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 3 |
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 2019 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | ROUTE 302 |
| 28 September 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 4.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 25 September 2008 | Debris and open burning | 30 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 24 September 2008 | Debris and open burning | 25 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 24 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | 40 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 24 September 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 22 September 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 21 September 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 6.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | BARBER BRANCH III |
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 Van Lear: 1 past producer, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Silica, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Point Roadcut | Clay | Prospect | ||
| Levisa Fork Sandstone Pit | Silica | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
2 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Van Lear in 2 storm reports between 1998 and 2022: 2 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Van Lear | 1.6 miles | 17 | |
| Nero | 1.7 miles | 18 | |
| Dawkins | 1.9 miles | 17 | |
| Meally | 2.0 miles | 16 | |
| Hagerhill | 2.1 miles | 17 | |
| East Point | 2.4 miles | 17 | |
| Thelma | 3.3 miles | 17 | |
| Collista | 3.6 miles | 17 |
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 Van Lear | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3605827 | 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 505958. 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.










