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Carroll County, Illinois

87 topographic sheets cover 30 settlements here, and 6 properties are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Research this county

From the record

6 National Register listings published here · the county-history sources tell 3 stories and name 11 people · people the book names include General Form Of Agreement (Mount Carroll Township, 1878) · Shi Ley Mrs. Eeizabeth (Wysox Township, 1878) (machine-read).

Sources: the county history on the Internet Archive · the National Register database, National Park Service

Illinois within the United States
Carroll County within Illinois

What the record shows

  • 496 topographic sheet readings cover the county's settlements.
  • 6 properties here are on the National Register of Historic Places: 5 buildings and 1 district.
  • 1 of the 6 listings was added during the 1970s.
  • The Geographic Names Information System records 30 populated places in this county; 30 are covered by at least one topographic sheet.
  • 1 public-domain county history, 1878, supplies 136,094 words of narrative reproduced here.

What happened here

3 accounts

Among them: Crimixal Mention Prepared By Volxey Armour, Esq; History Of Carroli- County; Mount Carroll City. These passages come from the identified county-history source books. Each inset names its own source and opens the exact section it comes from.

From The History of Carroll County, Illinois, Containing a History of the County-its Cities, Towns, Etc., a Biographical Directory ... War Record ... Statistics, Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men ... History of the Northwest ... Illinois ... Miscellaneous Matters, Etc, published 1878 - Salem Township

Crimixal Mention Prepared By Volxey Armour, Esq

The Mathews Case. - The first murder case that appears upon the docket of the Carroll County Circuit Court is that of The People vs. James ]\Iathewb,on change of venue from Jo Daviess County. It was first docketed for the October term, 1841. At the October term, 1842, the indictment was dismissed for want of witnesses.

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From The History of Carroll County, Illinois, Containing a History of the County-its Cities, Towns, Etc., a Biographical Directory ... War Record ... Statistics, Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men ... History of the Northwest ... Illinois ... Miscellaneous Matters, Etc, published 1878 - Salem Township

History Of Carroli- County

was tried at the March term of the Carroll County Circuit Court, 1859. Hon. John Y. Eustace, judge, presiding; Kobert C. Burchell, state's attorney; Adam Xase. sheriff, and Volney Armour, clerk. Dorsey was indicted at the October term of this court, 18.58, for the murder of one the deceased when the boat was just above Savanna, hitting him several blows on the head with brass knuckles.

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From The History of Carroll County, Illinois, Containing a History of the County-its Cities, Towns, Etc., a Biographical Directory ... War Record ... Statistics, Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men ... History of the Northwest ... Illinois ... Miscellaneous Matters, Etc, published 1878 - Mount Carroll Township

Mount Carroll City

ALI^ISOX JOkSKPH F. County Treasurer; born near Toronto, Canaila, October 19, 1«88; came to the States in infancy; came to Carroll Co. in iy40, and has lived here 37 years; one of the early settlers; was in the army during the Rebellion - in ir)tii Rogt. I. V. I., Co. H; was wounded at llatehee Kiver, Tenn., and at Champion Hills, Miss.; was in battle Pittsburg Landing, siege Vicksl)urg, Coriuth and Atlanta; was elected Circuiit Clerk, 18«8; was elected Treasurer of Carroll Co., 1«7;{, and re-electi'd, 1S7."> ami 1877; married Miss Ilallie A.

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Places on the National Register

6

Every property in this county listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with the year it was listed and the federal nomination document.

Photograph PropertyType ListedReference
Carroll County Courthousebuilding197373000692
Charles Franks Housebuilding199898000459
Nathaniel Halderman Housebuilding198080001339
Caroline Mark Housebuilding198383000303
Mount Carroll Historic Districtdistrict198080001340
Joseph Steffens Housebuilding198585000771

Wildfire, 1992 to 2019

26 fires

Every wildfire the federal occurrence database records inside this county: 26 of them, burning about 344 acres. None started naturally and 2 were recorded as arson. Each settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined10
Debris and open burning9
Recreation and ceremony4
Arson/incendiarism2
Smoking1

The five largest, by the area the report gives. One of them was set deliberately.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
31 March 2014Recreation and ceremony265 acresSavanna District, Upper Mississippi National Wildlife RefugeTHOMSON RNA
17 April 1996Debris and open burning15 acresSavanna District, Upper Mississippi National Wildlife RefugeSIMPSONTWO
31 March 2014Recreation and ceremony12 acresSavanna District, Upper Mississippi National Wildlife RefugeLITTLE KELLERS ISLAND
31 March 1992Smoking10 acresSavanna District, Upper Mississippi National Wildlife RefugeGOOSEPOINT
2 April 2009Arson/incendiarism5.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources26
1 May 2013Missing data/not specified/undetermined4.1 acresSavanna District, Upper Mississippi National Wildlife RefugeSETBACK LEVEE
6 May 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry ResourcesBNSF
1 April 2009Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources22

Every settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it - see the settlement index below.

Storms, 1950 to 2026

60 of 373 shown

The NOAA Storm Events Database holds 373 reports for this county, causing no deaths, 15 injuries and about $17,360,250 in recorded property damage. Each settlement page carries the reports that name it.

Kind of event Reports
Thunderstorm Wind211
Hail75
Flash Flood31
Tornado23
Flood14
Heavy Rain9
Funnel Cloud5
Lightning4
Winter Weather1

The most serious of them, by death, then injury, then recorded damage. The accounts are quoted exactly as the forecast office filed them.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
January 1967Tornado (F3)not stated12 hurt, $250,000no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindShannon2 hurt, $8,000High winds blew down trees and power lines, and ripped the roof off of a small building. Two people were injured after they were hit by debris.
June 2013Tornado (EF2)Savanna1 hurtA NWS Survey team determined that EF2 tornado with maximum winds of 135 mph. The track began 6 miles north of Savanna and ended 4 miles west of Mount Carroll Illinois. The tornado was well defined with significant tree damage. Several farm outbuildings were damaged and one house was pushed off its foundation where the one injury occurred.
July 2010Flash FloodLanark$10,000,000After about a foot of rain in 2 days, creek and small river basins rose rapidly Saturday morning. Numerous rural roads throughout the county suffered from washouts and excessive erosion. Near Argo Fay, Johnson Creek overflowed its banks and closed Big Cut Road.||In Mount Carroll, flooding of the Waukarusa River forced evacuations of about 80 homes, mainly on or near Mill Street. The local fire chief estimated that 80% of Mount Carroll residences had water in their basements.||The Plum River overflowed its banks between Lake Carroll and Savanna, causing extensive and severe damage. Just west of Lake Carroll, a farm house on Polsgrove Road flooded. The resident of the home described the event, saying that around 5 am there was no sign of flooding nearby, and by 7 am water was in the house. ||As the flood waters approached Savanna, the Plum River either overflowed or breached (it is unclear which) a high bank along Scenic Bluff Road, flowing then through the railroad yard to the Mississippi River. Local residents describe water rising about 4 feet in literally a few minutes. In Savanna, an estimated 625 people were evacuated, mainly from the eastern and southern portions of town. Due to the rapidly rising water, first responders in Savanna rescued more than 60 people from their homes. At least 12 homes suffered water up to the first floor and a Swiss Colony factory had several feet of water throughout its facility. Emergency management estimated 10 homes completely destroyed and 75 seriously damaged in Savanna alone. The raging flood waters washed away more than 30 yards of embankment supporting an overpass on the Highway 84 viaduct, washing away two rows of pylons that were supporting the bridge and closing the primary access route south of Savanna indefinitely. Numerous rail cars in the train yard were overturned, some of them washed up against bridges. Both DM&E and Burlington Northern suffered damage to their rail lines.
May 1995Tornado (F3)Albany$2,000,000The heaviest damage was in the Twin Oaks area which is five miles east of Fulton. Four homes were destroyed and six homes had major damage. Thirty-six farm buildings were damaged or destroyed on the 15 or 16 farm sites that were hit. Fields and ditches along U.S. 30 looked like a battle zone with twisted metal sticking from the ground. Gary Engelkens survived the tornado inside his mobile home. "I saw it coming, and I thought this was it," he said. He hid under a day-bed when the walls started flying and the bed started shaking. He leaped into the bathroom and then realized there was no roof anymore. "My ears popped and the pressure went up and then pandemonium," he said. The Gary Dykstra farm site, east of Fulton, had nearly all farm buildings destroyed. Gary and his wife were halfway down the basement steps when the tornado hit. The clock stopped at 1825 CDT. Mrs. Dykstra said it got blacker than coal before the tornado struck. Mr. Dykstra said thirty years of work was wiped out and he will not go back into the cattle business. The Jeff Holeginger home on Fenton Road near Fulton was also hit hard. Holesinger saw the tornado moments before it reached his home. Mr. Holeginger said it sounded like a great big freight train going right over the top. The whole house was picked up and dropped down again. Frank George, who farms at the Twin Oaks curve south of Route 30, was in his barn feeding the hogs when the tornado threw the barn across the road. He was not injured. The tornado produced minor damage and emptied itself of debris as it lifted across central Carroll County.
July 2010Flash FloodMarcus$1,000,000Heavy rains of 3 to 9 inches fell across Carroll County during the late evening hours of July 22 and through the morning hours of July 23 resulting in flash flooding of much of the county. Several roads across the county, especially the northern half, were closed due to the flash flooding. The Shannon area received over 8 inches of rain during the night and was in need of sludge pumps to assist with the flooding issues in the area. Areas that had never flooded before were flooded.
June 1996Thunderstorm WindChadwick$1,000,000no account filed
April 2010Thunderstorm WindMilledgeville$750,000Wind gusts estimated to be 70 mph caused a west-facing wall of a church to collapse in Milledgeville, IL around 858 pm April 5. In addition, several 3 foot diameter trees were blown down. Numerous power lines were also knocked down resulting in a power outage to much of the town. Most of the damage was across the northwest part of town and extended about 0.5 miles to the north.
April 2013Flash FloodMarcus$250,000Several rounds of heavy rains resulted in some flash flooding of much of Carroll County during the afternoon hours of April 17.
July 2011Flash FloodMarcus$250,000Torrential rains of 2 to 5 inches caused some flash flooding across the northern half of Carroll County during the late evening of July 27 and morning of July 28. Several streets in the town of Savanna were flooded forcing the evacuations of 80 residents. Portions of Mount Carroll along the Plum River were also flooded. Both railroad yards in the town were also underwater.
July 2011Flash FloodSavanna$250,000A large breach in the Portland Avenue Levee on the Plum River caused some flash flooding in parts of Savanna, IL during the evening of July 28 and early morning hours of July 29.
April 2011FloodMarcus$250,000no account filed
April 1984Tornado (F1)not stated$250,000no account filed
July 2003Thunderstorm WindShannon$200,000Numerous limbs down; house under construction had roof torn off
April 2010Thunderstorm WindMilledgeville$100,000Wind gusts estimated to be 60 mph damaged some outbuildings about 1 mile west of Milledgeville, IL around 845 pm April 5.
August 2008Thunderstorm WindSavanna$100,000Wind gusts estimated to be 75 mph blew down numerous trees and power lines across Carroll County around 600 pm August 4. Eight trees were blown down at the county fairgrounds, some of which fell on some cars. Several power outages were observed across the county.
May 1999Thunderstorm WindShannon$90,000Severe thunderstorm winds first blew apart a hog shed, which caused power lines to fall onto a barn. The barn and about 400 head of hog were lost in the resulting fire.
June 2014Tornado (EF1)Thomson$50,000A downburst spawned a brief tornado near Thomson. A old outbuilding was destroyed and extensive damage occurred to large, healthy trees (mostly snapped and some uprooted). Collateral damage to homes and vehicles also occurred from falling trees. Radar indicated gate-to-gate cyclonic shear. The damage path was approximately 3/8 mile wide. The tornado damage was rated EF1 and peak winds were estimated at 100 mph.
April 2010LightningLanark$50,000A house caught on fire due to a lightning strike in Lanark, IL around 859 pm April 5.
April 2010Thunderstorm WindMilledgeville$50,000Wind gusts estimated to be 70 mph blew down several large trees in Milledgeville, IL around 855 pm April 5. The fallen trees knocked down power lines and destroyed the end of a machine shed.
June 1996Thunderstorm WindMt Carroll$50,000no account filed
May 1996LightningMt Carroll$30,000no account filed
June 2010Thunderstorm WindThomson$25,000Wind gusts estimated to be 70 mph blew trees and power lines down in Thomson, IL around 100 pm CST June 18. Some power outages were also observed. A large tree fell onto a camping trailer at Thomson Causeway.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindMarcus$25,000Wind gusts estimated to be 70 mph blew down some trees and branches about 4 miles north of Savanna, IL around 522 pm June 27. A power outage was also observed.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindIdeal$25,000Winds estimated to be 70 mph blew a tree onto a house near the intersection of Hartman Road and Ideal Road about 4 miles southwest of Chadwick, IL at 10:10 am June 8.
September 1959Tornado (F2)not stated$25,000no account filed
June 1956Tornado (F1)not stated$25,000no account filed
June 1950Tornado (F1)not stated$25,000no account filed
September 2000Thunderstorm WindMt Carroll$20,000Corn auger blown onto power lines.
May 1999Heavy RainMilledgeville$20,000Localized heavy rain caused basement walls in 2 separate houses to collapse. Up to 4 feet of mud poured into the basements. Damage to each house and the contents was estimated at $10,000.
June 2003HailThomson$20,000no account filed
April 2011Thunderstorm WindShannon$10,000Wind gusts estimated to be 65 mph blew down a tree across Ogle Road and Route 72 just east of Shannon, IL around 930 pm CDT April 10. Some power lines were also downed.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindSavanna$10,000Winds estimated to be 70 mph blew down some trees and branches in Savanna, IL. Some landed on power lines and across Scenic Bluff Rd. One tree fell on a car. Delayed report.
May 2004Thunderstorm WindSavanna$10,000Several very large trees down with a carport damaged in the Carroll Heights subdivision up on the bluffs East of the City.
June 1999LightningSavanna$10,000Lightning struck a bell tower at St. Paul's Episcopal Church causing significant smoke and fire damage.
August 2005Thunderstorm WindThomson$7,000Tree down on a camper.
July 2017Flash FloodChadwick$5,000Local law enforcement reported a guard rail was washed out on Route 40 near Chadwick.
July 2017Flash FloodSavanna$5,000Local enforcement reported a mudslide over a portion of Route 84 north of Savanna. The area was deemed unsafe for travel.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindMilledgeville$5,000Wind gusts downed tree limbs in Milledgeville.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindLanark$5,000Wind gusts downed tree limbs in Lanark.
May 2009Flash FloodLanark$5,000Heavy rains caused some flash flooding of some roads near Lanark, IL during the evening of May 13. Some roads on the south side of town eroded.
August 2008Thunderstorm WindMilledgeville$5,000Wind gusts estimated to be 65 mph blew down some large branches and power lines in Milledgeville, IL at 650 pm August 4.
July 2007Thunderstorm WindMt Carroll$5,000Winds estimated to be 65 mph blew down several trees onto Cory Rd. Some fuse boxes were damaged.
April 2006HailMilledgeville$5,000also reported by law enforcement. Hail covered the ground.
May 2004Thunderstorm WindLanark$5,000Six trees down with several power lines. Trees of sufficient size to block several roads.
August 2004Thunderstorm WindMarcus$5,000Bookend vorticy of squall line left Jackson County Iowa and entered Carroll County Illinois around 1900 CST (0100 UTC) near Marcus. Only damage reports received were that of large limbs down that took two people to move on Illinois 84 during 1902-1907 CST. The location is between 0.2 miles north northeast of Marcus near the golf course to 0.4 miles east northeast of Marcus near the northwest edge of Mississippi Pallisades State Park. The sheriff department indicated additional trees down on Senic Ridge Road during 1904-1909 CST. The location is likely between the Jo Daviess/Carroll county line and the northeast edge of Pallisades State Park. Although no additional reports of severe winds were received, KDVN 88D data suggests the potential for additional wind damage across the rest of Washington township, and across Woodland into Freedom townships to a development around Lake Carroll.
July 2003Thunderstorm WindSavanna$5,000Tree limbs down on Illinois 84
September 2000Thunderstorm WindMt Carroll$5,000Windows blown out of a building showroom.
June 1999Thunderstorm WindShannon$5,000Straight line winds gusting over 70 mph damaged a tavern and tore part of a roof off a restaurant.
June 1998Thunderstorm WindMt Carroll$5,000Branches were broken and large trees were uprooted by strong thunderstorm winds across Carroll County during the early morning hours. At Lake Carroll a large oak tree smashed through the patio door of a home and some of the branches punched through the roof on the garage. Another large tree damaged a home in Lanark and crushed a swing set.
July 2003Heavy RainMarcus$5,000no account filed
May 2004HailChadwick$4,000Hailed continously for 10 to 15 minutes with hail of all sizes.
May 1998Thunderstorm WindCountywide$4,000Strong thunderstorm winds downed numerous trees and power lines across the county. A roof was blown off a building 1 mile South of Mount Carroll and buildings were blown across the road between Thompson and Savanna.
June 2006Flash FloodSavanna Stransky Arp$3,000Railroad underpass on Scenic Bluff Rd was impassable, covered with several feet of water.
June 2006Flash FloodWacker$3,000Railroad underpass on Wacker Road east of town was impassable, covered with several feet of water.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindLanark$3,000trees down blocking the road
August 2005Thunderstorm WindMilledgeville$3,000A wind gust estimated at 57 knots (65 mph) resulted in 8-10 inch diameter limbs downed that landed up to 10 feet away from their parent tree. A garage door was pushed in on a residence.
March 2006HailMilledgeville$3,000no account filed
September 1988Tornado (F0)not stated$2,500no account filed
June 2006Flash FloodSavanna$2,000U.S. 52 just south of the business district with a few feet of water across it.

Mines and quarries

34 recorded

The Survey's mineral resources record lists 34 workings inside this county. 10 still produce and 24 are closed or unrecorded. Each settlement page carries the workings within five miles of it.

Commodity Workings
Stone, Crushed/Broken29
Sand and Gravel, Construction4
Limestone, General1

The least common of them first, because a county's hundredth gravel pit says nothing its first ten did not.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Lloyde Haas QuarryLimestone, GeneralProducer
Heisler PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Old Nichols PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Rein,Schultz & Dahl Sand PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Thomson PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Artman QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Ben Fecke QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Carroll County Hwy DeptStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Derrer Quarry Protable #1Stone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Eller QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
G.D. Campbell QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Graharing Quarrynelson Qy. Prod.Stone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Graharing Quarryrein,Schultz,DahlStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Heldt QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Hoffman QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Jones QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Judas QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
L. Poffenberger QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Lake Carroll QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Limestone ProspectStone, Crushed/BrokenOccurrence
Limestone ProspectStone, Crushed/BrokenOccurrence
McKenna QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Plum River QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Ries QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Russels QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Savanna QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Savanna Township Hwy DeptStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Sorenson QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Thomson-Groharing QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Turnbaugh QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Unnamed Limestone QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Unnamed Limestone QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Unnamed Limestone QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Witt QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

The townships, in 1878

136,094 words

The History of Carroll County, Illinois, Containing a History of the County-its Cities, Towns, Etc., a Biographical Directory ... War Record ... Statistics, Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men ... History of the Northwest ... Illinois ... Miscellaneous Matters, Etc devotes a chapter to each township: its boundaries and streams, who settled it and when, the mills, the schools and the churches. All 10 are reproduced here in full. Each row shows the township's own shape and where it lies in the county, drawn from the Census Bureau's boundary. Which settlements belong to which township is computed from that same boundary, not taken from the book.

The people it describes

11 named

Everyone The History of Carroll County, Illinois, Containing a History of the County-its Cities, Towns, Etc., a Biographical Directory ... War Record ... Statistics, Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men ... History of the Northwest ... Illinois ... Miscellaneous Matters, Etc stops to write about, with the section that describes them. Among them are the men who founded the place and governed the Territory. Each name opens the passage itself, in the words of 1878.

Every populated place in the county

30

Named settlements recorded in the Geographic Names Information System, each with the topographic sheets covering it. Villages, hamlets and abandoned places alike. Each is shown with the nearest named watercourse or landform and the survey quadrangle it falls on.

The vanished settlements of Carroll County: the places named above that are no longer on the map.

Provenance

  • Topographic sheets. USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, county index, measured from the bulk metadata.
  • Fire insurance maps. Library of Congress Sanborn collection, faceted to this county.
  • Photographs. Each place queried individually against the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs search.
  • 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.