BlockAlpha, Illinois
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1947 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Oxford Township. It lies in ZIP code area 61413. The Survey maps it on the New Windsor quadrangle. 675 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 804 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresAlpha grew from 671 to 675 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 | 671 | |
| 2020 | 675 | +4 (+1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 11 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.
- 1947 USGS Woodhull quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1953 USGS New Windsor quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000
- 1984 USGS Aledo quadrangle1:100000
- 1989 USGS Aledo quadrangle1:100000
- 1991 USGS New Windsor quadrangle1:24000
In the county-history sources
3,689 words on this townshipHistory of Henry County, Illinois : It's Taxpayers and Voters; Containing Also, a Biographical Directory, a Condensed History of the State; Map of the County; a Business Directory...etc, published 1877 names this settlement in its chapter on Oxford Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
BLOOM FRANK, Farmer and Stock Raiser; Sec. I; P.O. Woodhull; born in Sweden, Oct. 8, 1834; came to the United States and to this county in the Spring of 1865; has three children, Charley M., Silma and John Oscar; wife was Hannah Johnson, from the same place, born May 23, 1847; married in the Spring of 1865; has 100 acres, val. $5, 300; Rep; Luth.
Passage source: History of Henry County, Illinois : It's Taxpayers and Voters; Containing Also, a Biographical Directory, a Condensed History of the State; Map of the County; a Business Directory...etc, published 1877.
CALKINS ANSON, P.O. Alpha; Sec. 21; Farmer and Stock Raiser; born in Austerlitz, Columbia Co. N. Y., Nov. 14, 1818; came to the state and county and settled on the place where he now lives in June, 1841, there being but a few families in the town when he came; has family, five children: Mira P., Mary E., James B., John F., and Winfield C.; wife was Miss H. Griffin, born in Berkshire Co. Mass; married April 20, 1847; has 397 acres, value $23,800; Rep; Assessor one term.
Passage source: History of Henry County, Illinois : It's Taxpayers and Voters; Containing Also, a Biographical Directory, a Condensed History of the State; Map of the County; a Business Directory...etc, published 1877.
CAMPBELL W. O. P.O. Woodhull; Sec. 23; Farmer; born in Franklin Co. Pa. March 8, 1838; came to the state and county in the Spring of 1866; in the Fall of 1866 removed to McLean Co. and remained there four years and six months, and then returned to this county; has family of six children, Lawrence N., Emma, Nellie M., John W., Minnie M., and Nannie D.; wife was Theresa N. Hammond, born in Franklin Co. Pa. May 4, 1844; married Nov. II, 1863; both members of the Presbyterian Church; is Supervisor; Rep.
Passage source: History of Henry County, Illinois : It's Taxpayers and Voters; Containing Also, a Biographical Directory, a Condensed History of the State; Map of the County; a Business Directory...etc, published 1877.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Read the whole chapter on Oxford Township - it names this place 36 more 36 times.
Storms near this place
14 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Alpha in 14 storm reports between 1996 and 2026: 6 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 2 tornado, 2 flash 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alpha | $100 | A trained spotter reported a road sign was blown over. |
| July 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alpha | - | A public report of large branches downed by thunderstorm winds, along with a car port that blown into the side of the house. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alpha | - | Public report relayed by broadcast media. A gustnado removed a side panel from a metal building near Alpha. Time estimated by radar. |
| April 2019 | Flash Flood | Alpha | - | Water flowing over Illinois Highway 17, at the intersection of U.S. Route 150 was reported. Water was also flowing over the intersection of Page Street and Highway 82. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alpha | - | Power lines were blown down. |
| July 2014 | Tornado (EF1) | Alpha | - | This tornado was rated EF-1 with peak winds of 105 mph. Its path length was less than a mile. Several large trees were blown over along both sides of the road with other trees snapped off and some crop damage. |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alpha | - | Law enforcement reported trees down. |
| May 2011 | Flash Flood | Alpha | - | Heavy rains resulted in some flash flooding in the Alpha, IL area during the late morning and early afternoon of May 29. The flood waters were flowing over Oxford Road near Alpha. |
| April 2003 | Hail | Alpha | - | Covered the ground |
| April 2003 | Tornado (F0) | Alpha | - | Touched down in field |
| March 2026 | Hail | Alpha | - | no account filed |
| February 2017 | Hail | Alpha | - | no account filed |
| April 2013 | Hail | Alpha | - | no account filed |
| October 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alpha | - | no account filed |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oxford (historical) | 3.1 miles | 11 | |
| Woodhull | 3.5 miles | 11 | |
| Ophiem | 4.2 miles | 12 | |
| Lynn Center | 7.3 miles | 11 | |
| Andover | 8.5 miles | 11 | |
| Nekoma | 10.2 miles | 14 | |
| Orion | 11.3 miles | 12 | |
| Osco | 12.0 miles | 11 |
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 Alpha | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2557618 | 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 403453. 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.
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.