Como, Illinois
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1934 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Hopkins Township. It lies in ZIP code area 61081. It stands on Elkhorn Creek. The Survey maps it on the Como quadrangle. 528 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 630 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresComo fell from 567 to 528 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 | 567 | |
| 2020 | 528 | -39 (-7%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 11 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.
- 1934 USGS Morrison quadrangle1:62500
- 1934 USGS Morrison quadrangle1:48000
- 1940 USGS Morrison quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Aurora quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1961 USGS Aurora quadrangle1:250000
- 1985 USGS Como quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Dixon quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
In the county-history sources
6,659 words on this townshipPortrait and Biographical Album of Whiteside County, Illinois : Containing Full-page Portraits and Biographies of All the Governors of Illinois, and of the Presidents of the United States, published 1885 names this settlement in its chapter on Hopkins Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
Jason Hopkins, for whom the township is named and Isaac H. Brittle, have the honor of being the pioneers of the township, effecting a settlement in 1835, where the village of Como was subsequently located. Mr. Hopkins passed through this section in 1832, during the Black Hawk War, and was charmed with the country. At that time he made a "jack-knife claim," by cutting his name in the bark of the trees. He said the location was as " beautiful as the Garden of Eden." When he returned with his family in 1835, he surveyed the claim and marked its boundaries in the customary manner of running furrows through the prairies and marking the trees in the timber.
Passage source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Whiteside County, Illinois : Containing Full-page Portraits and Biographies of All the Governors of Illinois, and of the Presidents of the United States, published 1885.
Jason Hopkins was a native of Tennessee, born Dec. 26, 1786. On coming to this State he first located at Belleville, from which place he went to Peoria, and was there on the breaking out of the Black Hawk War. Enlisting in a cavalry regiment, he was appointed Quartermaster, and as such served during the war. He was a cabinet-maker and worked at his trade until he came to this county. An intimate friend of Gen. Jackson, he was a great admirer of the old hero. Mr. Hopkins was a true pioneer, a man esteemed by all who knew him. He died at his home in Coino, Aug. 19, 1853.
Passage source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Whiteside County, Illinois : Containing Full-page Portraits and Biographies of All the Governors of Illinois, and of the Presidents of the United States, published 1885.
Jesse Scott came from Ohio, though born in Luzerne Co., Pa. He made the trip by way of the Ohio, Mississippi and Rock Rivers, in a keel-boat propelled by horse-power, lantfing at Como, June i, 1839. With this boat he made trading trips for several'years after coming to Como.
Passage source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Whiteside County, Illinois : Containing Full-page Portraits and Biographies of All the Governors of Illinois, and of the Presidents of the United States, published 1885.
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 Hopkins Township - it names this place 17 more 17 times.
Fires near this place
4 since 2018Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Como between 2018 and 2019, burning about 3 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 | 3 |
| Debris and open burning | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 May 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 18-369 |
| 18 May 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 18-414 |
| 9 April 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 19-322 |
| 23 March 2019 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 19-274 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
9 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Como: 6 past producers, 2 plants, 1 producer. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emerson Quarry & Mill | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Plant | ||
| L. Deets Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Como Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Mccue Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Nelson Sand & Gravel Pit #2 & | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Propheter Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Propheter Pit & Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Rock Falls Pit and Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Plant | ||
| Whiteside Blacktop Company Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
7 since 2003Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Como in 7 storm reports between 2003 and 2019: 4 flood, 1 heavy rain, 1 hail, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2003 | Heavy Rain | Como | $2,000 | in 25 minutes; roadside ditches full |
| June 2019 | Flood | Como | - | The Rock River at Joslin, began the month of June above major flood stage of 16.5 feet. It crested during the late morning on the 1st, at 17.3 feet. It feel below major flood stage in the late afternoon hours June 2nd. |
| February 2018 | Flood | Como | - | Whiteside County emergency management reported a significant ice jam that brought widespread inundation of farms and fields near the Rock River between Como and Erie Illinois. This ice jam was associated with major flooding along the Rock River, but enhanced that flooding considerably in that area. |
| March 2014 | Flood | Como | - | Warming temperatures into the 50s caused large ice jams to form on the Rock River at Como, Illinois during the middle of March, 2014. This caused major flooding as observed by the emergency manager. The river rose above flood stage of 10 feet at 823 pm CST on March 13, cresting at 13.19 feet on March 16 at 1130 am CST. Major flooding is observed at 12 feet or higher. The river then fell below flood stage at 845 pm CST on March 18. |
| July 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Como | - | Wind gusts estimated to be 60 mph were observed 3 miles west of Rock Falls, IL around 650 am CDT July 11. |
| August 2007 | Flood | Como | - | The Rock River level at Como was in flood during this period. It crested at 12.05 feet around mid-day on the 26th. |
| May 2011 | Hail | Como | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Galt | 1.6 miles | 11 | |
| Agnew | 2.2 miles | 11 | |
| Grimes Addition | 2.4 miles | 12 | |
| Douglas Park | 2.6 miles | 12 | |
| Emerson | 2.7 miles | 11 | |
| Sterling | 4.1 miles | 12 | |
| Rock Falls | 4.2 miles | 12 | |
| Sands | 5.1 miles | 11 |
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 Como | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1120711 | 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 406427. 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.






