Breckenridge, Illinois

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1923 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Cooper Township. It lies in ZIP code area 62563. The Survey maps it on the Edinburg quadrangle. It stands 587 feet above sea level.

Breckenridge within Sangamon County

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 12 printed sheets

Matched 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.

1923 USGS Taylorville quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
1925 USGS Taylorville quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
1958 USGS Decatur quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
1961 USGS Decatur quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
1982 USGS Edinburg quadrangle1:24000
1985 USGS Springfield quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings

In the county-history sources

7,844 words on this township

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 names this settlement in its chapter on Cooper Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

A class was organized from the Buck Hart congregation about 1856 or J 857, known as the Nebo class, which met for worship in a school house on the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section thirty-three. When the villages of Berry and Breckenridge were laid out, the class divided and organized, one at each place, erecting church edifices at each, at a cost of about $1,800 for the one in Berry, and $2,000 for the one in Breckenridge. These churches are supplied with preaching services from the Rochest'^r circuit.

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.

This village was so named in honor of Hon. Preston Breckenridge, its village plat being recorded in May, 1870, being described as the "north half of the northeast quarter of section five, township fourteen, range three." John W. Wigginton was the original proprietor.

Jacob C. Miller was born April 9, 1824, in Loudon county, Virginia, and married Mary Charlotte Prather, in this county, June 10, 1869. She was born January 4, 1843, in Washington county, Maryland. Mr. Miller is the son of Christian and Sarah (Neer) Miller, who were born in Loudon county, Virginia; and he came with them to Sangamon county, January 20, 1835. Her parents. Perry and Elizabeth ( Troxell ) Prather, wei-e natives of Washington county, Maryland, and came to Sangamon county, June 1, 1850. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have four children, Samuel J., Don W., and Edith E., and Lotta Mabelle, born September 13, 1881. He entered two thousand one hundred and forty acres of land when he came to this county, of which Jacob C. inherited four hundred and twenty, and has added by purchase, one hundred and fortyeight. His wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics, they are Liberal. James W. H. Neer, a farmer, living in section thirty-three, in Cooper township; son of Henry and Lydia (Derry) Neer, who came from Loudon county, Virginia. He was married to Sarah E. Zimmerman, daughter of David and Matilda Zimmerman. They have three children, Isaac H., born May 24, 1867; Freddie Artiiur, born July 29, 1872; and Ira Elton, born December 28, 1875. Mr. Neer was at one time engaged in mercantile business at Breckenridge. His parents and brothers live in this county. Both parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and are, in politics, Republican.

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 Cooper Township - it names this place 5 more 5 times.

Fires near this place

1 since 2012

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Breckenridge in 2012, burning about 200 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	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
28 July 2012	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	200 acres	Illinois Division of Forestry Resources	BUCKHART

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Sangamon County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Breckenridge: 1 plant. All of them still produce. What was taken out: 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
	Burkhart Dredge & Mill	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Plant

Every working recorded in Sangamon County

Storms near this place

1 since 2012

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Breckenridge in 1 storm report in 2012: 1 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
January 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Breckenridge	$20,000	Several trees were damaged, including one that fell onto a car. In addition, minor siding damage was reported and a swing set was blown into a field.

Every storm recorded in Sangamon County

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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Berry	1.6 miles	12
Cascade	3.1 miles	12
Buckhart	3.5 miles	12
New City	5.1 miles	14
Rochester	5.7 miles	14
Beamington	7.9 miles	14
Mechanicsburg	8.1 miles	10
Keys	8.7 miles	20

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 Breckenridge	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q14687418	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 422497. 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.