Bluffs, Illinois
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1928 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Naples-Bluffs precinct. It lies in ZIP code area 62621. The Survey maps it on the Meredosia quadrangle. 618 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 469 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresBluffs fell from 715 to 618 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 | 715 | |
| 2020 | 618 | -97 (-14%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 13 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.
- 1928 USGS Meredosia quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1931 USGS Meredosia quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Quincy quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Quincy quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1975 USGS Meredosia SE quadrangle1:24000
- 1980 USGS Meredosia quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Meredosia quadrangle1:100000
- 1990 USGS Meredosia quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
1 since 2019Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Bluffs in 2019, burning about 30 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 |
|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 February 2019 | Smoking | 30 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 19-209 |
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 Bluffs: 3 past producers, 1 occurrence. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Clay. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exeter Clay Pit | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Limestone Prospect | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence | ||
| Illinois Valley Asphalt Co. Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Illinois Valley Asphalt Company Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
9 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bluffs in 9 storm reports between 1996 and 2016: 5 hail, 4 thunderstorm wind. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2011 | Hail | Bluffs | $60,000 | A large quantity of quarter-sized hail occurred, producing damage to vehicles in Bluffs. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bluffs | $15,000 | Several trees were blown down across Illinois Route 100 just south of Bluffs. |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bluffs | - | Several trees, tree limbs and power lines were blown down. |
| September 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bluffs | - | Trees were blown down in town. |
| February 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bluffs | - | As the severe thunderstorm moved southeast across Scott County, it blew down several power lines. In Bluffs, the front of a store sustained minor damage. In Riggston, a grain silo was blown over and a semi-trailer was rolled into a field. No injuries were reported and no damage estimate was available. |
| March 2006 | Hail | Bluffs | - | no account filed |
| September 2001 | Hail | Bluffs | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Hail | Bluffs | - | no account filed |
| April 1996 | Hail | Bluffs | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exeter | 3.0 miles | 12 | |
| Oxville | 3.5 miles | 13 | |
| Columbus (historical) | 3.8 miles | 13 | |
| Naples | 3.8 miles | 13 | |
| Merritt | 6.8 miles | 12 | |
| Bloomfield | 7.0 miles | 13 | |
| Riggston | 7.1 miles | 12 | |
| Winchester | 9.4 miles | 12 |
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 Bluffs | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2569637 | 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 404628. 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.







