BlockAva, Illinois
17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1910 and the latest in 1987. It stands in Bradley Township. It lies in ZIP code area 62907. The Survey maps it on the Ava quadrangle. 553 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 610 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresAva fell from 654 to 553 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 | 654 | |
| 2020 | 553 | -101 (-15%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 17 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.
- 1910 USGS Murphysboro quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1938 USGS Murphysboro quadrangle1:62500
- 1949 USGS Paducah quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1950 USGS Paducah quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Paducah quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Paducah quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1964 USGS Paducah quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1968 USGS Ava quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1984 USGS Carbondale quadrangle1:100000
- 1986 USGS Carbondale quadrangle1:100000
- 1987 USGS Paducah quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
14 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 14 fires within 5 miles of Ava between 1992 and 2018, burning about 58 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 7 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 August 2000 | Debris and open burning | 20 acres | Shawnee National Forest | BRIDGE |
| 17 July 2017 | Fireworks | under an acre | Shawnee National Forest | JOHNSON CREEK |
| 24 June 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Shawnee National Forest | TURN AROUND |
| 19 June 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Shawnee National Forest | JOHNSON CREEK 2 |
| 17 June 2013 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Shawnee National Forest | HAY BALE |
| 29 May 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Shawnee National Forest | JOHNSON CREEK |
| 14 April 1992 | Smoking | 22 acres | Shawnee National Forest | not named |
| 6 March 2010 | Debris and open burning | 6.4 acres | Shawnee National Forest | KESSEL |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Ava: 1 occurrence, 1 plant. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kinkaid Stone Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Plant | ||
| Limestone Prospect | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
23 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ava in 23 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 14 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 2 flood, 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2008 | Flood | Ava | $1,800,000 | A large mobile home park east-northeast of Carbondale was flooded due to Crab Orchard Creek. Water was up to the bottom of mobile homes, and vehicles were submerged. Over 100 people were evacuated from the park. A business in Carbondale had two to six feet of water on the first floor. A two-day power outage affecting several buildings at Southern Illinois University was caused by water in manholes. Up to six feet of water was pumped out of a manhole before repairs could start. The small community of Makanda was cut off by flooded roads. A number of roads were closed by flooding, including Route 13, the main east-west artery through the county. At least one water rescue was conducted. About 30 basements were flooded in Murphysboro. |
| August 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ava | $40,000 | Trees were down on vehicles and roadways in the Ava area. |
| April 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ava | $25,000 | Two trees were down. One tree fell on a house and another on a truck. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ava | $20,000 | There was a partial porch collapse in Ava. Large tree limbs were down on Route 4 just east of Ava, and a large tree was down on Route 151 just south of Ava. |
| August 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ava | $15,000 | Small trees were blown down, and there were some power outages. Two tents secured by ropes were blown down at the Murphysboro High School. One home in Murphysboro sustained major damage when two 16-inch tree limbs fell on the home and a car. |
| March 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ava | $5,000 | Tree limbs were blown down. Pieces of sheet metal were blown around. A trained spotter estimated wind gusts were from 60 to 65 mph. |
| December 2015 | Tornado (EF0) | Ava | $5,000 | Peak winds were estimated near 75 mph. Numerous large branches were snapped off trees. The tornado occurred over rural farm country with patches of dense woodlands. |
| May 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ava | $5,000 | Trees were down across a road south and west of Ava. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ava | $4,000 | Several trees were down in the Ava area. |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ava | $3,000 | A wooden fence was damaged, and a couple of trees were down. |
| May 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ava | $3,000 | no account filed |
| August 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ava | $1,000 | Large trees were blown down at a few residences. A dog cage was blown about 50 feet. |
| March 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ava | $100 | A small tree was blown onto Little Kincaid Rd to the east of McClure Road west southwest of Ava. |
| May 2024 | Hail | Ava | - | Hail estimated to penny size was reported west of Ava. |
| July 2006 | Flash Flood | Ava | - | Water was over Highway 4 near Ava and over U.S. Highway 51 near Elkville. Highway 127 and several secondary roads had water and debris running across them. Signs were posted to warn motorists. Thunderstorms with heavy rainfall were responsible for the flooding. |
| July 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ava | - | Emergency management personnel estimated a wind gust to 60 MPH. |
| April 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ava | - | Trees were blown down. |
| April 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ava | - | Several trees were blown down. |
| June 2018 | Hail | Ava | - | no account filed |
| March 2012 | Hail | Ava | - | no account filed |
| April 2011 | Flood | Ava | - | no account filed |
| October 2007 | Hail | Ava | - | no account filed |
| May 1997 | Hail | Ava | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sato | 3.7 miles | 17 | |
| Campbell Hill | 4.1 miles | 20 | |
| Bradley (historical) | 5.3 miles | 20 | |
| Dry Hill | 5.8 miles | 23 | |
| Oraville | 6.1 miles | 19 | |
| West Point | 6.8 miles | 20 | |
| Glenn | 7.4 miles | 23 | |
| Degognia | 7.4 miles | 23 |
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 Ava | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q575522 | 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 403754. 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.