BlockBefore

Dorchester, Illinois

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1912 and the latest in 1998. It stands in Gillespie Township. It lies in ZIP code area 62033. The Survey maps it on the Bunker Hill quadrangle. 133 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 659 feet above sea level.

Dorchester within Macoupin County

Population over time

2 figures

Dorchester fell from 151 to 133 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
2010151
2020133-18 (-12%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 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.

In the county-history sources

1,626 words on this township

History of Macoupin County, Illinois : Biographical and Pictorial, published 1911 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for smaller places. Its township is covered in full.

The chapter on Gillespie Township covers the township.

Read the chapter on Gillespie Township - 1,626 words.

Fires near this place

15 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 15 fires within 5 miles of Dorchester between 2008 and 2014, burning about 28 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/undetermined15

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
22 April 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry ResourcesRT 4
22 April 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry ResourcesLAKE
19 April 2014Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry Resources14-000056
6 March 2009Missing data/not specified/undetermined15 acresIllinois Division of Forestry ResourcesPARK
21 March 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry ResourcesRT16 164
21 March 2009Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry ResourcesGILLESPIE
21 March 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry ResourcesMIMMERS
18 March 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry ResourcesILL

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Macoupin County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Dorchester: 2 occurrences. None of them still produces. What was taken out: 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Limestone ProspectStone, Crushed/BrokenOccurrence
Limestone ProspectStone, Crushed/BrokenOccurrence

Every working recorded in Macoupin County

Storms near this place

6 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Dorchester in 6 storm reports between 1998 and 2023: 3 hail, 3 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2023Thunderstorm WindDorchester-Thunderstorm winds blew down several large tree limbs.
April 2013Thunderstorm WindDorchester-Thunderstorm winds blew down a couple of two foot diameter trees next to Illinois Route 159 about 1.5 miles south of intersection with Illinois Route 16.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindDorchester-Thunderstorm winds snapped off a two foot diameter tree at its base.
May 2012HailDorchester-no account filed
April 2011HailDorchester-no account filed
June 1998HailDorchester-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Macoupin 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
Baylestown0.6 miles12
Wilsonville1.9 miles11
Millville3.3 miles12
Mount Clare3.4 miles11
Royal Lakes4.3 miles12
Sawyerville4.3 miles11
Benld4.5 miles11
Bunker Hill4.5 miles12

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 DorchesterAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2670087The 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 407318. 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.