Archer, Illinois
19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1907 and the latest in 1998. It stands in Curran Township. It lies in ZIP code area 62711. The Survey maps it on the Springfield West quadrangle. It stands 604 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 19 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.
- 1907 USGS Springfield quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1930 USGS Springfield quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1940 USGS Springfield quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1950 USGS Springfield West quadrangle1:24000
- 1958 USGS Decatur quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1961 USGS Decatur quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Springfield West quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1985 USGS Springfield quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1998 USGS Springfield West quadrangle1:24000
In the county-history sources
8,409 words on this townshipHistory of Sangamon County, Illinois; Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages and Townships ... Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Representative Citizens. History of Illinois, published 1881 names this settlement in its chapter on Curran Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
The first settlement was made in this township in 1819. Among the early settlers were Joshua Brown, Jacob Earnest, Thomas Earnest, William Archer, David Cloyd, Thomas Cloyd, Samuel Cloyd, Stephen Shelton, William T. Brawnes, Ivins Fostei*, James Parkinson, John Smith, Thomas McKee, Elisha McKomas, Mr. Lamb, John Kelly, James McKee, Barney Vanderen, Henry Alsbury, Thomas Hilliard, Thomas Foster, William Withrow, and others.
Passage source: History of Sangamon County, Illinois; Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages and Townships ... Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Representative Citizens. History of Illinois, published 1881.
Joshua Brown was born May 20, 1V92, in Davis county, Kentucky. Nancy Wilcher was born December, 1789, in the same county. They were there married, early in 1812, and in November, 1818, moved to St.^ Clair county, Illinois, and from there to what became Sangamon county, arriving April 18, 1819, in what is now Curran township, east of Archer's creek, and south of Spring creek, and later, entered one hundred and sixty acres of land south of Spring creek, in Gardner township.
Passage source: History of Sangamon County, Illinois; Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages and Townships ... Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Representative Citizens. History of Illinois, published 1881.
William Archer was born July 30, 1793, in North Carolina, and in 1807 his parents moved to Tennessee, where he was married to Elizabeth Jackson; moved to Madison county, lUi- nois, where Mrs. A. died, and he married Elizabeth Holt, December 20, 1818. She was born December 3, 11 93, in Oglethorpe county, Georgia, and, losing her parents when quite young, she was taken by an uncle, Robert White, to Madison county, Illinois, in 1811. Wm. and Elizabeth Archer had twins in Madison county, and moved to Sangamon county, arriving April 80, 1820, in what is now Curran township.
Passage source: History of Sangamon County, Illinois; Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages and Townships ... Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Representative Citizens. History of Illinois, published 1881.
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 Curran Township - it names this place 7 more 7 times.
Fires near this place
4 since 2010Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Archer between 2010 and 2014, burning about 2 acres in total. None 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3 |
| Smoking | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 April 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | OSWOLD |
| 28 March 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | DOBRON |
| 29 January 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | FRAASE |
| 28 January 2014 | Smoking | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 2014-02 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Archer: 3 past producers, 1 occurrence. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Springfield Pit Solomon Service | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Limestone Prospect | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence | ||
| Sangamon County Highway Department | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Springfield City Eng. | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
8 since 2010Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Archer in 8 storm reports between 2010 and 2025: 4 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 flood. The reports record 1 death. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2010 | Flood | Archer | 1 killed | A woman drowned in downtown Springfield near the intersection of 3rd and Capitol after her car stalled in an underpass which was flooded due to a storm sewer backup. As she was trying to push her car out of about three feet of standing water, she slipped partially into a manhole cover and was submerged. The area had received 1.52 of rain, with 1.41 falling during the two hours prior to the drowning. Minor flooding of typically flood-prone areas was reported elsehwere around Springfield. |
| August 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Archer | $20,000 | Numerous trees were blown down on the west side of Springfield. |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Archer | $1,000 | The top of a pine tree was broken off on Old Jacksonville Road. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Archer | - | A 4-inch diameter tree limb was blown down on the 700 block of Shoshoni Drive. |
| June 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Archer | - | A tree was blown down onto a powerline on Old Jacksonville Road. |
| May 2025 | Hail | Archer | - | no account filed |
| April 2025 | Hail | Archer | - | no account filed |
| June 2015 | Hail | Archer | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cody | 1.0 miles | 19 | |
| Riddle Hill | 1.6 miles | 14 | |
| Bradfordton | 2.9 miles | 19 | |
| Coleman | 3.0 miles | 19 | |
| Leland Grove | 3.0 miles | 19 | |
| Jerome | 3.1 miles | 19 | |
| Curran | 3.3 miles | 12 | |
| Bando | 3.5 miles | 19 |
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 Archer | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q4785924 | 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 422412. 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.








