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Central, Utah

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 2002. It stands in the St. George census division. It lies in ZIP code area 84722. It lies near California Hollow. The Survey maps it on the Central East quadrangle. 656 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,216 feet above sea level.

Central within Washington County

Population over time

2 figures

Central grew from 613 to 656 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.

YearPeople Change
2010613
2020656+43 (+7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 16 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.

Photographs

1 photograph, 1940

Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.

Many of the farmers living in Santa Clara, Utah, have central heating plants in their homes. This is one of the home furnaces
Many of the farmers living in Santa Clara, Utah, have central heating plants in their homes. This is one of the home furnaces
Lee, Russell, 1940. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

131 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 131 fires within 5 miles of Central between 1992 and 2020, burning about 4,393 acres in total. 92 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
Natural92
Missing data/not specified/undetermined24
Recreation and ceremony8
Other causes2
Equipment and vehicle use2
Firearms and explosives use1
Debris and open burning1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
9 September 2004Naturalunder an acreDixie National ForestINDIAN HOLLOW
9 September 2004Naturalunder an acreCedar City Field OfficeDAM
7 September 2013Naturalunder an acreCedar City Field OfficeBAKER
3 September 2009Naturalunder an acreDixie National ForestKANE
28 September 2004Natural2.5 acresDixie National ForestMAGOTSU
27 September 2005Naturalunder an acreUtah Division Forestry Fire State LandsVOLCANO
16 September 2008Naturalunder an acreCedar City Field OfficeTURKEY
16 September 2008Naturalunder an acreUtah Division Forestry Fire State LandsTURKEY

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Washington County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 15 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 15 workings within 5 miles of Central: 13 past producers, 1 occurrence, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Volcanic Materials, Pumice, Manganese. 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
Section 12 ProspectCopperPast Producer
UnknownManganeseOccurrenceReplacement
UnknownManganeseProspect
Cinder Pit #1Volcanic MaterialsPast ProducerSurface
Cinder Pit #2Volcanic MaterialsPast ProducerSurface
Cinder Pit #27070Volcanic MaterialsPast ProducerSurface
Cinder Pit No. 1PumicePast Producer
Cinder Pit No. 2PumicePast Producer
Ut Dept Hwys Cinder Pit No.27070PumicePast Producer
Borrow Pit #27071Sand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSand

Every working recorded in Washington County

Storms near this place

1 since 2025

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Central in 1 storm report in 2025: 1 flood. 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
December 2025FloodCentral$30,000There was more than four inches of rain in portions of northern Washington County, with a water rescue at Baker Dam, flooded roads, and flooding of homes in Brookside.||A group of four tourists were in a van and did not realize they were driving on to a dam. When first responders arrived, there was around a foot of water in the vehicle. They were able to rescue everyone, and no injuries were reported.||The road into Pine Valley was blocked for a time with debris and water, along with some damage to a newly constructed culvert at Meadow View and Main St.||Black Ridge Road and Old Highway 91 in the New Harmony area were closed because the reservoir that is usually dry filled up.||There was also a lot of water in Brookside. Several homes got water in basements and were very close to flooding.

Every storm recorded in Washington 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
Pine Valley6.1 miles16
Veyo6.5 miles16
Dammeron Valley8.1 miles16
Gunlock11.6 miles16
Enterprise11.9 miles14
New Harmony17.2 miles19
Shem17.3 miles16
Ivins17.4 miles19

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 CentralAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q5060194The 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 1439624. 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.