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Broadwell, Illinois

14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1911 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Broadwell Township. It lies in ZIP code area 62634. The Survey maps it on the Broadwell quadrangle. 136 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 591 feet above sea level.

Broadwell within Logan County

Population over time

2 figures

Broadwell fell from 145 to 136 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.

YearPeople Change
2010145
2020136-9 (-6%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 14 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.

In the county-history sources

13,768 words on this township

History of Logan County, Illinois, Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages, and Towns, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History, Portraits of Prominent Person, and Biographies of Representative Citizens : Also a Condensed History of Illinois, Embodying Accounts of Prehistoric Races, Indian Wars, and a Brief Review of Its Civil and Political History, published 1886 names this settlement in its chapter on Broadwell Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Broadwell is one of the four townships occupying the center of Logan County and is bounded on the north by West Lincoln Township, on the east by Chester Township, on the south by Elkhart Township, and on the west by Corwin Township. The Chicago & Alton Kailroad runs across it diagonally, northeast and southwest, having one station within its limits - Broadwell. The township is drained by Salt Creek, which flows along its east and north sides, and Lake Pork, which joins Salt Creek in this township.

Passage source: History of Logan County, Illinois, Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages, and Towns, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History, Portraits of Prominent Person, and Biographies of Representative Citizens : Also a Condensed History of Illinois, Embodying Accounts of Prehistoric Races, Indian Wars, and a Brief Review of Its Civil and Political History, published 1886.

Broadwell is a Democratic township, by a modest plurality. It has gone Republican in but one presidential year- -1872. Following is the vote for President since the, organization of the township: six miles southwest of Lincoln, was laid out in 1856 bj Thomas C. Meyer, of New York, a Mr. Spencer, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a Mr. Blatchford, of New York, and the Morgan Brothers, of Dwight, Illinois. The survey was made by Conway Pence, County Surveyor. The first settler in the village was Thomas Debety, who built the first house therein, and lived here a few years. The house is still standing. William Sample built a stone store after the town was platted. The building is now occupied for a store -by A. G. Eisiminger. Albert McCoUister was the first postmaster in town, using for his office a small building now unoccupied. As soon as the town began to fill with residents, Charles D. McCauley erected a second store, and George Barry a blacksmith shop, the first in the village.

Passage source: History of Logan County, Illinois, Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages, and Towns, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History, Portraits of Prominent Person, and Biographies of Representative Citizens : Also a Condensed History of Illinois, Embodying Accounts of Prehistoric Races, Indian Wars, and a Brief Review of Its Civil and Political History, published 1886.

Broadwell was incorporated as a village by act of the Legislature approved March 13, 1869. The village limits were made to run half a mile from the center. The first incorporation, however, was made June 9, 1866, without authority of the Legislature. The officers chosen then and for the present year have been:

Passage source: History of Logan County, Illinois, Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages, and Towns, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History, Portraits of Prominent Person, and Biographies of Representative Citizens : Also a Condensed History of Illinois, Embodying Accounts of Prehistoric Races, Indian Wars, and a Brief Review of Its Civil and Political History, published 1886.

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 Broadwell Township - it names this place 31 more 31 times.

Fires near this place

3 since 2009

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of Broadwell between 2009 and 2020, burning about 5 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/undetermined2
Debris and open burning1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
24 February 2009Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry ResourcesWEST
23 February 2009Debris and open burning2.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry ResourcesPHARRIS
7 October 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources200649

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Logan County

Mines and quarries near this place

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Broadwell: 3 past producers, 1 occurrence, 1 producer. 1 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Broadwell PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Heinzel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Limestone ProspectStone, Crushed/BrokenOccurrence
Lincoln QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Unnamed Limestone QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Logan County

Storms near this place

19 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Broadwell in 19 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 8 thunderstorm wind, 7 hail, 2 tornado, 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2000Tornado (F0)Broadwell$23,000A tornado briefly touched down in Broadwell. The top of a grain leg on an elevator was torn off and several trees and tree limbs were blown down. Also, a few power lines were blown down and a few homes sustained minor shingle and siding damage. No injuries were reported.
September 2003Tornado (F1)Broadwell$15,000A tornado briefly touched down southeast of Broadwell. It destroyed an old outbuilding, blew down two trees, and blew out 5 windows on a house. Two people in the house at the time, saw the tornado approaching and took shelter in the basement. No injuries were reported. Also, the wooden cellar door on the house was torn off and nearby crops were destroyed.
March 2009Thunderstorm WindBroadwell$8,000Several 8-inch diameter tree limbs were blown down.
March 2016LightningBroadwell$5,000Lightning struck a home in Broadwell, causing a fire.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindBroadwell-A large tree was split with half of the tree falling over.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindBroadwell-Mesonet station UR707 in Broadwell measured a 62 mph wind gust.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindBroadwell-A tree was blown onto a road.
July 2013Flash FloodBroadwell-Very heavy rainfall, with accumulations of 3.00 to 4.00 inches in 90 minutes during the morning, resulted in flash flooding in southern Logan County. Six to ten inches of flowing water was reported over Illinois Route 121 between Mt. Pulaski and Latham. Numerous rural roads were also reported to be impassable. The water diminished quickly by early afternoon.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindBroadwell-A large wooden swingset was toppled.
July 2004Thunderstorm WindBroadwell-Several trees and tree limbs were blown down. A power pole was blown over west of Beason.
February 2000Thunderstorm WindBroadwell-Thunderstorm winds blew part of the roofs off of two mobile homes in Broadwell. No injuries were reported and no damage estimate was available.
June 2000Thunderstorm WindBroadwell-Large tree blown down in the southwest part of Broadwell. Numerous large trees and tree limbs were blown down in the area.
May 2025HailBroadwell-no account filed
September 2006HailBroadwell-no account filed
August 2001HailBroadwell-no account filed
May 2000HailBroadwell-no account filed
May 2000HailBroadwell-no account filed
May 1999HailBroadwell-no account filed
June 1998HailBroadwell-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Logan 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.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Fogarty2.2 miles14
Elkhart3.9 miles14
Mount Fulcher6.4 miles17
Chestervale6.6 miles14
Lincoln6.9 miles14
Burton View7.4 miles15
Middletown8.1 miles13
Lake Fork8.3 miles10

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 BroadwellAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q955450The 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 404889. 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.