BlockBefore

Browns, Illinois

18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1903 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Browns precinct. It lies in ZIP code area 62818. It stands on Negro Creek. The Survey maps it on the Bone Gap quadrangle. 139 people lived here at the 2020 count.

Browns within Edwards County

Population over time

2 figures

Browns grew from 134 to 139 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
2010134
2020139+5 (+4%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 18 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.

Fires near this place

6 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 6 fires within 5 miles of Browns between 2015 and 2019, burning about 8 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
Debris and open burning5
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1

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
8 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources15-132
22 September 2019Debris and open burning1.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources419
21 July 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry Resources15-123
25 April 2017Debris and open burning1.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources231
22 March 2018Debris and open burning4.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources296
12 March 2017Debris and open burning1.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources225

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Edwards 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 Browns: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Albion Dredge and MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Edwards County

Storms near this place

16 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Browns in 16 storm reports between 1999 and 2025: 10 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 lightning, 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 1999LightningBrowns$30,000Lightning struck a large oil storage tank, causing a spectacular fire.
August 2025Thunderstorm WindBrowns$20,000Thunderstorm winds blew down numerous trees and large tree limbs in Grayville. Some of the downed trees took down powerlines. A brick wall of a business was partially knocked down.
January 2008Thunderstorm WindBrowns$15,000A semi was blown into another semi, blocking Illinois Route 1.
June 2006Thunderstorm WindBrowns$3,000Shingles were blown off a roof.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindBrowns$2,000A power pole was down.
April 2024Thunderstorm WindBrowns$1,000A large tree snapped at the base as a thunderstorm line moved through Grayville. The report was relayed via Facebook.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindBrowns$1,000An mPING report was submitted for a tree uprooted in Grayville.
July 2004Thunderstorm WindBrowns$1,000Power lines were blown down in rural parts of southeast Edwards County.
March 2023Thunderstorm WindBrowns-A wind gust to 60 mph was measured by a trained spotter at Grayville.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindBrowns-A trained spotter estimated winds gusted from 50 to 60 mph.
June 2006HailBrowns-Dime size hail fell on Highway 15.
July 2004Thunderstorm WindBrowns-Tree limbs and small trees were down across a road.
June 2018HailBrowns-no account filed
May 2011HailBrowns-no account filed
April 2011FloodBrowns-no account filed
June 2000Flash FloodBrowns-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Edwards 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
Red Top2.3 miles9
Lexington (historical)2.9 miles18
Albion3.9 miles8
Bone Gap4.9 miles18
Wanborough (historical)5.8 miles8
Piankashawtown (historical)7.0 miles8
Grayville8.3 miles19
Samsville8.7 miles8

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 BrownsAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2272726The 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 404977. 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.