43 topographic sheets cover 21 settlements here, and 2 properties are on the National Register of Historic Places.
2 National Register listings published here · the county-history sources tell 1 story and name 2 people · people the book names include Adopts General Charter (Beardstown Township, 1915) · Dr. Thomas Pothicary (Ashland Township, 1915) (machine-read).
Sources: the county history on the Internet Archive · the National Register database, National Park Service
Among them: Founder Of Chandlerville. These passages come from the identified county-history source books. Each inset names its own source and opens the exact section it comes from.
Dr. Charles Chandler was the next physician of Cass County, and came as far as Beardstown in the spring of 1832, on a steamboat bound for Fort Clark on Lake Peoria. but the second Black Hawk war was then agitating the people and making it dangerous to travel very far to the north, so Dr. Chandler stopped off and after investigating the country, located near the mouth of Panther Creek, the present site of Chandleryille.
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 | Property | Type | Listed | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Beardstown Grand Opera House | building | 2000 | 00000471 |
 | Andrew Cunningham Farm | building | 1975 | 75000641 |
Every wildfire the federal occurrence database records inside this county: 4 of them, burning about 25 acres. None started naturally and none was recorded as arson. Each settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4 |
The five largest, by the area the report gives. None of them was recorded as arson.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 January 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 1400008 |
| 5 May 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | SPRADLIN |
| 25 February 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 90221 |
| 25 February 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 90218 |
Every settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it - see the settlement index below.
The NOAA Storm Events Database holds 208 reports for this county, causing 1 death, 7 injuries and about $8,867,800 in recorded property damage. Each settlement page carries the reports that name it.
| Kind of event | Reports |
|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 105 |
| Hail | 56 |
| Flash Flood | 25 |
| Tornado | 18 |
| Flood | 4 |
The most serious of them, by death, then injury, then recorded damage. The accounts are quoted exactly as the forecast office filed them.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 1999 | Tornado (F1) | Ashland | 1 killed, 6 hurt, $1,750,000 | no account filed |
| June 1960 | Tornado (F2) | not stated | 1 hurt, $250,000 | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Beardstown | $3,500,000 | Numerous large trees were uprooted, and many large tree branches and power lines were downed. Thirty nine structures sustained damage and most needed repairs to be returned to a habitable state. These structures included single and multiple family homes, mobile homes, and businesses. Three structures were a total loss. |
| May 1996 | Flash Flood | Countywide | $2,000,000 | no account filed |
| August 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Beardstown | $210,000 | As a line of severe thunderstorms moved into Cass County, several miles stretch of US Route 67 was closed due to 40 power poles being blown down. Also, ten homes sustained minor damage from the storms. A barn and a garage were destroyed, and numerous trees, tree limbs, and other power lines were blown down. In Arenzville, one of the fallen trees damaged a pickup truck. Also, considerable crop damage was reported countywide, especially between Beardstown and Arenzville. Damage to the crops was estimated around $6.8 million. |
| December 2018 | Tornado (EF1) | Beardstown | $200,000 | A tornado touched down 1.1 miles southeast of Beardstown at 3:25 PM CST. The tornado damaged some power poles near the railroad tracks east of the nursing home south of Beardstown, then tracked northeastward, causing tree damage as it crossed IL Route 125. The tornado damaged the Water Treatment Plant, including 3 of the 4 wells that serve the city, and knocked down numerous trees as it passed just east of Roy Roberts Park. It also knocked the windows out of several vehicles in the parking lot of the Park. The tornado continued moving to the northeast across Chandlerville Rd, causing an elongated area of tree damage along Duck Slough Rd before dissipating in a field east of Phelps Ditch Rd about 3.9 miles northeast of Beardstown at 3:33 PM CST. |
| April 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Countywide | $200,000 | As a severe thunderstorm moved east across Cass County, numerous trees, tree limbs, power poles, and power lines were blown down. One mile southeast of Virginia more significant damage occurred to a house. The brick attached garage was destroyed and part of the roof of the house sustained minor damage. Also, two vehicles that were parked nearby were destroyed by flying debris. Seven miles northwest of Ashland, a machine shed suffered minor damage. In the Newmansville area, two storage tanks were blown over and a house sustained major damage when its entire roof was blown off. Debris from the home was blown up to 1.5 miles away to the northeast. No injuries were reported. In Chandlerville, numerous power poles were blown down. |
| June 2018 | Hail | Bluff Spgs | $100,000 | A swath of hail up to the size of tennis balls was reported from 1.6 miles southwest of Bluff Springs to the town of Bluff Springs. Roofs of homes and automobiles were damaged. |
| July 2010 | Flash Flood | Beardstown | $100,000 | Slow moving thunderstorms produced copious amounts of rainfall in western Cass County late in the evening of July 28th. Rainfall amounts of 4.00 to 5.00 were measured in 90 minutes which produced nearly two feet of water on many roads. Numerous cars were stranded on the streets in Beardstown. |
| March 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Beardstown | $67,000 | Thunderstorm winds damaged the roof of the Beardstown Fire Department. |
| September 2008 | Flash Flood | Beardstown | $60,000 | Water from Indian Creek was flooding homes in a subdivision 2 miles south of Beardstown. |
| September 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Virginia | $50,000 | Strong winds damaged the roof of a school gym in Virginia. |
| September 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Virginia | $40,000 | A machine shed was destroyed. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Beardstown | $35,000 | Numerous tree limbs and power lines were blown down. |
| December 2018 | Tornado (EF0) | Hagener | $35,000 | A tornado touched down 5.9 miles west-northwest of Arenzville at 3:09 PM CST, then tracked northeastward and dissipated 5.8 miles northwest of Arenzville at 3:10 PM CST. The tornado damaged a few outbuildings and a large water container during its brief time on the ground. |
| September 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Beardstown | $35,000 | Several trees and power lines were blown down. |
| August 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Philadelphia | $30,000 | Numerous tree limbs and power lines were blown down. |
| July 1973 | Tornado (F2) | not stated | $25,000 | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Virginia | $20,000 | Several large tree limbs and a HAM radio tower were blown down in Virginia. |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Virginia | $20,000 | A shed was blown down 1 mile east of Virginia. |
| August 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Virginia | $20,000 | Several trees were blown down in Virginia. |
| September 2008 | Flash Flood | Arenzville | $20,000 | Six homes in Arenzville had 1.5 feet of water in their basements due to heavy rainfall. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Beardstown | $15,000 | One tree and numerous tree limbs were blown down in and around Beardstown. |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Arenzville | $14,000 | Power lines were blown down in Arenzville. |
| September 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Beardstown | $12,000 | Numerous large tree limbs were blown down. |
| February 2011 | Hail | Beardstown | $10,000 | Golfball-sized hail damaged a vehicle. |
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Arenzville | $10,000 | Power lines were blown down in Arenzville. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Beardstown | $6,000 | A power pole was blown down in Beardstown. |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Beardstown | $6,000 | A power pole was blown down in Beardstown. |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Virginia | $6,000 | A power pole was blown down in Virginia. |
| May 2023 | Flash Flood | Ashland | $5,000 | Numerous roads were flooded in Ashland. |
| May 2023 | Flash Flood | Gurney | $4,000 | Water was flowing across parts of Route 125 near Newmansville Road. |
| May 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Philadelphia | $3,000 | Several large tree branches were blown down. Vinyl siding was torn off a house.| |
| May 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Beardstown | $2,000 | A tree was blown across US-67 just south of Beardstown. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Virginia | $2,000 | A large oak tree was blown over onto Summit Avenue North between Main and William streets in Virginia. |
| August 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Virginia | $2,000 | A tree was blown down in Virginia. |
| August 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bluff Spgs | $2,000 | A tree was blown down in Bluff Springs. |
| August 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Virginia | $1,800 | A metal carport was blown across a street, causing damage to the roof and side of Parlier's Auto Body. |
| April 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bluff Spgs | - | Several power poles were blown down. |
| June 2025 | Tornado (EFU) | Gurney | - | Based on Sentinel satellite imagery, a tornado began 2.8 miles northwest of Ashland and traveled northeast, entirely through farm fields. The tornado lifted 3.5 miles north-northwest of Ashland. No damage was reported with this tornado, so no intensity rating could be assigned. |
| June 2025 | Tornado (EFU) | Newmansville | - | Video shared by a trained spotter showed a brief tornado occurred in eastern Cass County south of Newmansville. Sentinel satellite imagery showed the track began near Carson Road south of Cox Creek Road, and tracked northeast through mainly farm fields to Pschirrer Road. It crossed County Line Road just north of Pschirrer Road, and continued into Menard County for another 1.3 miles. No damage was reported in either county, so an intensity rating could not be assigned. |
| June 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Beardstown | - | A few tree branches were blown down. |
| April 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bluff Spgs | - | A large tree was blown down. |
| May 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Beardstown | - | Power lines were blown onto railroad tracks. |
| May 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chandlerville | - | Several large tree branches were blown down. |
| July 2022 | Flash Flood | Bluff Spgs | - | Flowing water over North Bluff Springs Road. |
| May 2021 | Hail | Virginia | - | Several cars were damaged by the hail. |
| May 2021 | Tornado (EFU) | Arenzville | - | A weak tornado touched down in a field about 2.5 miles east-northeast of Arenzville just north of Crum Road at 4:57 PM CDT. The tornado tracked southeastward near the intersection of Crum Road and Thornley Lane and quickly dissipated by 4:59 PM CDT. No damage occurred. |
| May 2021 | Tornado (EFU) | Virginia | - | A weak tornado touched down in a field 3 miles south of Virginia just east of IL-78 at 5:05 PM CDT. The tornado tracked southeastward and crossed near the intersection of Hall Road and Conover Road before quickly dissipating by 5:08 PM CDT. No damage occurred. |
| July 2021 | Tornado (EF1) | Chandlerville | - | A tornado touched down about 3.5 miles south-southwest of Chandlerville at 2:44 PM CDT. The tornado tracked northeastward along Illinois Route 78 from Palmerton Road to Philadelphia Road causing heavy tree and agricultural damage. A barn was flattened east of Palmerton Road. The tornado dissipated 1.2 miles south of Chandlerville at 2:51 PM CDT. |
| July 2021 | Tornado (EFU) | Newmansville | - | A tornado briefly touched down near the intersection of Newmansville Road and Cox Creek Road about 5.1 miles northeast of Philadelphia at 3:16 PM CDT. The tornado dissipated by 3:17 PM CDT with no damage occurring. |
| July 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chandlerville | - | A tree was blown down across a road. |
| July 2021 | Tornado (EF0) | Virginia | - | A tornado touched down about 2.4 miles west-southwest of Virginia at 2:22 PM CDT. The tornado tracked northeastward across open fields until it reached the southwest side of Virginia where it damaged a bus barn for Virginia High School. It damaged several trees and the porch of a home as it traveled through town, then damaged additional trees after it exited Virginia just southeast of the Walnut Ridge Cemetery. The tornado dissipated 0.9 miles northeast of Virginia at 2:35 PM CDT. |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hagener | - | Twenty power poles were broken along US-67 southwest of Beardstown prompting the closure of the road. |
| December 2021 | Tornado (EF2) | Virginia | - | A tornado touched down about 4 miles south-southwest of Virginia at 7:47 PM CST. The tornado tracked northeastward, heavily damaging a farmstead on Parlier Road about a half mile west of highway 78. Here, a house had significant damage to its roof and several farm buildings were completely demolished. One horse was killed and another injured. The tornado crossed highway 78 about a half mile north of Prairie Creek. It damaged approximately 15 power poles on Conover Road and overturned several storage tanks nearby. After crossing highway 125 about 2 miles southeast of Virginia, the remainder of the track mainly consisted of damage to trees. It crossed much of the Panther Creek Fish & Wildlife Area before lifting about 2 miles west-northwest of Newmansville at 7:59 pm. |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Virginia | - | A large pecan tree branch was blown onto a roof, causing damage to the roof. |
| October 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ashland | - | A tree was blown onto IL 125 near downtown Ashland. |
| October 2021 | Flood | Virginia | - | Water was flowing across the roadway northwest of Virginia. |
| May 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Virginia | - | A tree was blown down onto Highway 125. |
| May 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ashland | - | Several outbuildings were damaged and a large machine shed was completely destroyed. Numerous trees and power poles were blown over or snapped, including one tree that fell onto a house. |
The Survey's mineral resources record lists 4 workings inside this county. None of them still produces: all are closed or unrecorded. Each settlement page carries the workings within five miles of it.
| Commodity | Workings |
|---|---|
| Sand and Gravel, Construction | 4 |
The least common of them first, because a county's hundredth gravel pit says nothing its first ten did not.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arenzville Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Cass County Hwy Dept | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Illinois Valley Asphalt Co. Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Illinois Valley Asphalt Co. Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
History of Cass County, Illinois devotes a chapter to each township: its boundaries and streams, who settled it and when, the mills, the schools and the churches. All 3 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.
| Shape and position in the county | Township | Settlements in it | Length | Sections |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arenzville Township | Arenzville | 2,267 words | 6 | |
| Ashland Township | Ashland, Gurney | 6,338 words | 10 | |
| Beardstown Township | Beardstown, Oak Grove | 3,500 words | 10 |
2 books written about this county, cut here where the book itself is cut, at its printed chapters: 36 chapters in all. Every chapter is public domain, machine-read from the scan and reproduced complete. A chapter already given under one of the county's towns is not repeated in this list.
| Chapter | Length |
|---|---|
| Chapter with an unread heading (no. 1 of those read) | 11,722 words |
| Chapter with an unread heading (no. 2 of those read) | 11,783 words |
| Chapter with an unread heading (no. 3 of those read) | 12,735 words |
| Chapter 9 | 3,782 words |
| Chapter 10 | 10,142 words |
| Chapter with an unread heading (no. 6 of those read) | 6,786 words |
| Chapter with an unread heading (no. 7 of those read) | 4,809 words |
| Chapter with an unread heading (no. 8 of those read) | 4,819 words |
| Chapter with an unread heading (no. 9 of those read) | 2,791 words |
| Chapter with an unread heading (no. 10 of those read) | 3,238 words |
| Chapter with an unread heading (no. 11 of those read) | 2,142 words |
| Chapter with an unread heading (no. 12 of those read) | 3,178 words |
| Chapter with an unread heading (no. 13 of those read) | 6,490 words |
| Biographical sketches | 90,401 words in 6 parts |
Everyone History of Cass County, Illinois 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 1882.
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.
Panther Creek township · 62691 · Near Buck Hollow · Virginia quadrangle
12 sheets, 1932 to 1990
Arenzville township · 62611 · On Mannel Branch · Arenzville East quadrangle
11 sheets, 1929 to 1990
Beardstown township · 62618 · On Sangamon River · Beardstown quadrangle
16 sheets, 1926 to 1990
Sangamon Valley township · 62691 · Arenzville East quadrangle
11 sheets, 1929 to 1990
No longer a settlement
Chandlerville township · 62627 · On Little Panther Creek · Chandlerville quadrangle
15 sheets, 1930 to 1990
Beardstown township · 62618 · On Sangamon River · Beardstown quadrangle
16 sheets, 1926 to 1990
Panther Creek township · 62627 · Near Buck Hollow · Chandlerville quadrangle
15 sheets, 1930 to 1990
Panther Creek township · 62612 · Ashland quadrangle
13 sheets, 1932 to 1990
No longer a settlement
The vanished settlements of Cass County: the places named above that are no longer on the map.
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