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Stark County, Illinois

46 topographic sheets cover 16 settlements here, and 2 properties are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Research this county

From the record

2 National Register listings published here.

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

Illinois within the United States
Stark County within Illinois

What the record shows

  • 198 topographic sheet readings cover the county's settlements.
  • 2 properties here are on the National Register of Historic Places: 2 buildings.
  • The Geographic Names Information System records 16 populated places in this county; 16 are covered by at least one topographic sheet.
  • 3 public-domain county histories, 1876 to 1916, supply 232,869 words of narrative reproduced here.

Places on the National Register

2

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
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Depotbuilding198787000650
Dr. Thomas Hall's Officebuilding2025100012169

Storms, 1955 to 2026

60 of 167 shown

The NOAA Storm Events Database holds 167 reports for this county, causing no deaths, 1 injury and about $17,143,500 in recorded property damage. Each settlement page carries the reports that name it.

Kind of event Reports
Thunderstorm Wind84
Hail44
Flash Flood18
Tornado16
Flood5

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
June 1998Thunderstorm WindCountywide1 hurtno account filed
June 2013Flash FloodLa Fayette$9,000,000Thunderstorms moving over the same areas multiple times resulted in 3.00 to 7.00 inches of rain in nearly all of Stark County during the early morning hours of June 24th. All rural roads were closed and most creeks were flooded out of their banks. State Highway 17, 40, 78, 91 and 93 also had several stretches that were closed. This was the second major flash flood to impact Stark County since mid-April. Most of the flooding subsided by mid-afternoon.
April 2013Flash FloodWest Jersey$5,000,000Torrential rainfall of 5.00 to 8.00 inches resulted in damage to nearly one thousand houses and businesses in the county. Every creek and stream in the county was flooded. Every road in the county was impassable, and several water rescues were made.
July 1972Tornado (F1)not stated$2,500,000no account filed
February 2017Tornado (EF1)Castleton$100,000A tornado touched down 0.8 miles southwest of Castleton at 4:12 PM CST. The tornado then tracked northeastward...damaging trees, an outbuilding, and a few homes before crossing into extreme southwestern Bureau County in the National Weather Service Davenport County Warning Area (CWA) at 4:19 PM CST.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindWyoming$75,000Widespread wind damage occurred from the north side of Wyoming northeastward to Bradford. Numerous trees, tree branches, and power lines were blown down along this path. In addition, minor damage to a few sheds and outbuildings was reported.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindWest Jersey$50,000Trees, power lines, and crops were damaged near West Jersey.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindToulon$50,000Several trees and power lines were blown down.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindBradford$50,000Several trees and power lines were blown down.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindWyoming$40,000Several trees and power lines were blown down.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindElmira$40,000Several trees and power lines were blown down.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindElmira$40,000Numerous trees were uprooted and blown down. A barn was damaged.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindWest Jersey$35,000A swath of thunderstorm wind damage cut across Stark county. The winds blew down numerous trees, power lines, and corn fields. A church in Toulon also had some windows blown out.|
May 2013Thunderstorm WindToulon$25,000Several trees and power lines were blown down in Toulon.
July 1967Tornado (F2)not stated$25,000no account filed
September 1959Tornado (F2)not stated$25,000no account filed
May 2013Thunderstorm WindToulon$15,000A grain bin was blown down in Toulon.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindToulon$15,000Numerous tree limbs were blown down.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindToulon$15,000Several trees and numerous corn stalks were blown down.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindBradford$12,000A shed was blown over in Bradford.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindWyoming$10,000A tree was blown onto a house.
December 2008Thunderstorm WindToulon$10,000An outbuilding was damaged between Toulon and Wyoming.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindBradford$3,000Two trees were blown down onto Route 93. Considerable crop damage was also noted in the area.
July 1975Tornado (F0)not stated$2,500no account filed
June 2015Thunderstorm WindWest Jersey$2,000A power line was blown down.
August 2012Thunderstorm WindToulon$2,000A three-foot diameter tree was blown down in Toulon.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindWest Jersey$2,000A tree was blown down.
March 2026Tornado (EF0)Toulon-A tornado touched down just northwest of Toulon at 7:30 PM CDT. The tornado tracked eastward, causing occasional minor tree damage before dissipating east of North Wyoming Road and south of 950 North Road at 7:37 PM CDT.
March 2026Tornado (EF1)West Jersey-This tornado crossed from far northeastern Knox County into Stark County southwest of Walnut Creek at 7:23 PM CDT. The tornado tracked eastward, damaging a few homes and outbuildings and snapping trees near the intersection of 100 East Road and 450 North Road. It then crossed IL-78 where it caused extensive siding damage, broke windows, and damaged the roof of a home before dissipating north of the intersection of 400 East Road and 400 North Road at 7:29 PM CDT.
March 2025Thunderstorm WindWest Jersey-Pieces of metal were blown off of farm outbuildings and a small area of drip edge was removed from a home.
May 2025Tornado (EF0)Toulon-A landspout tornado touched down in a field east of Highway 78 and south of 750 North about 2 miles southwest of Toulon at 5:02 PM CDT. The tornado tracked slowly southwestward causing minor tree damage before dissipating just east of Highway 78 and south of 700 North at 5:06 PM CDT.
April 2025Thunderstorm WindWyoming-The soffit was blown loose from a house.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindElmira-A large tree was blown down across IL-93.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindToulon-Power lines were blown over near the Henry and Stark County border, resulting in power outages.
June 2024Thunderstorm WindBradford-Several trees were blown down on Route 93 in Bradford.
June 2024Thunderstorm WindToulon-A few 6-inch diameter tree limbs were blown down near the Toulon Sheriffs Office.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindWyoming-Trees and power poles blown down.
August 2024Thunderstorm WindBradford-A power pole was snapped and several power lines were blown down.
August 2024Thunderstorm WindWest Jersey-Several large tree branches were blown down.
August 2024Tornado (EF1)West Jersey-A tornado touched down along Walnut Creek near the Knox County-Stark County line about 3 miles northwest of West Jersey at 11:06pm CDT. It moved east-northeastward through farm fields before crossing over Walnut Creek again and snapping trees as it progressed across 250 East Road. The tornado then crossed State Route 78 and dissipated in a field at 11:12pm CDT.
August 2024Thunderstorm WindWyoming-A few tree branches were damaged.
August 2024Thunderstorm WindSpeer-A few silos and grain bins were damaged.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindOsceola-Siding was torn off a large shed.
June 2022Flash FloodCastleton-Water was flowing across the roadway at the intersection of Illinois 17 and Illinois 40 just west of Camp Grove.
July 2019Thunderstorm WindWyoming-A tree was blown down in Wyoming.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindWest Jersey-A road sign was bent and a corn field was flattened.
May 2017Thunderstorm WindLa Fayette-A tree was blown down onto Route 78 northeast of La Fayette.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindToulon-Numerous trees were blown down.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindToulon-Numerous trees were blown down.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindWyoming-Numerous trees were blown down.
June 2017Flash FloodLa Fayette-Torrential rain of 2.00 to 3.00 inches in less than two hours produced flash flooding in the southern half of Stark County. Numerous county roads from Toulon to Wyoming and locations to the south were impassable during the evening hours. The flooding dissipated rapidly by late evening.
June 2016Tornado (EF0)Bradford-A weak tornado briefly touched down in a field 3 miles west-southwest of Bradford at 7:15 PM CDT. No damage was reported.
June 2015Flash FloodWest Jersey-Thunderstorms with rainfall rates of 1.00 to 1.50 per hour persisted for nearly three hours in much of Stark County. Observers reported 3.00 to 4.00 of rain on ground already saturated during the previous week. Many rural roads from West Jersey to Toulon to Wyoming were impassable.
July 2014FloodSpeer-Persistent thunderstorms produced several periods of heavy rainfall. Total accumulations of up to 4.00 of rain were common in most of Stark County. Rainfall rates in Toulon were nearly 4.00 per hour between 2000 and 2015 LST. Many rural roads were closed across Stark County, as were parts of Illinois Routes 17, 40 and 93. Additional rainfall late in the evening of June 30th caused roads to remain closed through the early morning hours of July 1st.
June 2014Flash FloodSpeer-Persistent thunderstorms produced several periods of heavy rainfall. Total accumulations of up to 4.00 of rain were common in most of Stark County. Rainfall rates in Toulon were nearly 4.00 per hour between 2000 and 2015 LST. Many rural roads were closed across Stark County, as were parts of Illinois Routes 17, 40 and 93.
June 2014FloodSpeer-Persistent thunderstorms produced several periods of heavy rainfall. Total accumulations of up to 4.00 of rain were common in most of Stark County. Rainfall rates in Toulon were nearly 4.00 per hour between 2000 and 2015 LST. Many rural roads were closed across Stark County, as were parts of Illinois Routes 17, 40 and 93. Additional rainfall late in the evening of June 30th caused roads to remain closed through the early morning hours of July 1st.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindBradford-A grain bin was blown down.
May 2013FloodLa Fayette-Several rounds of thunderstorms with torrential rainfall produced 3.00 to 6.00 inches of rain in much of Stark County late in the evening of May 26th. This resulted in widespread flash flooding across nearly all of the county. Most roads were impassable and closed through the night. Additional rainfall overnight kept roads closed through the early morning. Flood waters finally subsided by mid-afternoon on the 27th.
May 2013Flash FloodLa Fayette-Several rounds of thunderstorms with torrential rainfall produced 3.00 to 6.00 inches of rain in much of Stark County late in the evening of May 26th. This resulted in widespread flash flooding across nearly all of the county. Most roads were impassable and closed through the night.
April 2013FloodWest Jersey-Torrential rainfall of 5.00 to 8.00 inches resulted in damage to nearly one thousand houses and businesses in the county. Every creek and stream in the county was flooded. Every road in the county was impassable, and several water rescues were made. The flash flooding was so significant that creeks stayed in flood and most roads remained closed until the afternoon of April 22nd.

Mines and quarries

2 recorded

The Survey's mineral resources record lists 2 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, Construction1
Stone, Crushed/Broken1

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

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Castleton PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Stark County Highway DepartmentStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

The townships, in 1887

232,869 words

Documents and Biography Pertaining to the Settlement and Progress of Stark County, Illinois : Containing an Authentic Summary of Records, Documents, Historical Works and Newspapers Relating to Indian History, Original Settlement, Organization and Politics ... devotes a chapter to each township: its boundaries and streams, who settled it and when, the mills, the schools and the churches. All 8 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 TownshipSettlements in it LengthSections
Elmira TownshipElmira, Osceola35,788 words9
Essex TownshipDuncan, Slackwater18,996 words1
Goshen TownshipLafayette20,251 words1
Osceola TownshipBradford, Lombardville, Morse12,500 words5
Penn TownshipCastleton, Waldron34,273 words12
Toulon TownshipModena, Toulon, Wyoming81,618 words6
Valley TownshipSpeer, Stark13,994 words3
West Jersey TownshipWest Jersey15,449 words2

The county's history books

286,649 words

3 books written about this county, cut here where the book itself is cut, at its printed chapters: 28 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.

Stark County and Its Pioneers (1876)

ChapterLength
Chapter 12,805 words
Chapter 26,422 words
Chapter 39,132 words
Chapter 5: The Fauxa of Stark County69,864 words in 5 parts

Documents and Biography Pertaining to the Settlement and Progress of Stark County, Illinois : Containing an Authentic Summary of Records, Documents, Historical Works and Newspapers Relating to Indian History, Original Settlement, Organization and Politics ... (1887)

ChapterLength
Chapter 234,069 words
Chapter 1: Topography and Natural History4,739 words
Chapter 2: Indians of Illinois5,819 words
Chapter with an unread heading (no. 4 of those read)14,495 words
Chapter 5: Pioneer Associations and Reminiscences12,763 words
Chapter 6: Organization and Commissioners Court16,501 words in 2 parts
Schools and Institute8,026 words
Chapter with an unread heading (no. 8 of those read)22,539 words in 2 parts

History of Stark County, Illinois, and Its People : a Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement .. (1916)

ChapterLength
Chapter 1: Physical Features, Geology, Etc4,879 words
Chapter 2: Aboriginal Ixiiabitants3,457 words
Chapter 3: Indian History11,198 words
Chapter 5: Settleiniext of Stark Couxty4,928 words
Chapter 6: Stark County Organized6,967 words
Chapter 8: Cities. Towns and Villages9,442 words
Chapter 9: Mn.ltary History7,588 words
Chapter 10: Internal Improvements5,776 words
Chapter 11: Finance and Industry6,434 words
Chapter 12: Educational Development10,127 words
Chapter 13: The Bexcit and Rak6,872 words
Chapter 14: The Medical Professiox3,983 words
Chapter 15: Church History8,100 words
Chapter 16: Societies and Fraternities8,023 words
Chapter 17: Miscellaneous History7,996 words
Chapter 18: Statistical Review3,705 words

Every populated place in the county

16

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 Stark 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.