BlockDorsey, Illinois
23 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1927 and the latest in 1993. It stands in Moro Township. It lies in ZIP code area 62021. The Survey maps it on the Bethalto quadrangle. It stands 587 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
12 surveys from 23 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.
- 1927 USGS Alton quadrangle1:62500
- 1934 USGS Alton quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1949 USGS Bethalto quadrangle1:24000
- 1949 USGS Saint Louis quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS St. Louis quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Bethalto quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1955 USGS Alton quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS St. Louis quadrangle1:250000
- 1963 USGS St. Louis quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1966 USGS St. Louis quadrangle1:250000
- 1985 USGS St Louis quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
- 1993 USGS Bethalto quadrangle1:24000
In the county-history sources
601 words on this townshipHistory of Madison County, Illinois ... With Biographical Sketches .., published 1882 names this settlement in its chapter on Moro Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
Lowder Tatman, Peter Hassinger, Mrs. Matilda Dorsey, and several others began building about the same time, and, in a year or two, quite a nice little village had sprung up. A large general warehouse, for shipping purposes, was also soon erected by James Montgomery.
Passage source: History of Madison County, Illinois ... With Biographical Sketches .., published 1882.
Was born in Lincolnshire, England, February 28th, 1833, being the son of Samuel and Eliza Forman. When an infant, his mother died. His father married again, and in 1845 emigrated to America, with his wife and two children, William C. and Alfred. Samuel Forman came directly to Madison county, and settled in Fort Russell township, where he still remains, having followed the profession of farming since the period of his arrival in this country. The subject of this sketch remained at home with his father until his nineteenth year; he then went west, and for nine years was principally engaged in mining ope>-ations in Nevada, which proved very successful. Immediately after Mr. Forman's return from the mines he sought an opportunity for investing his capital, and became the owner of the farm he now occupies, in Moro township, formerly known as the Nimrod Dorsey farm. An illustration of the same can be seen on another page of this work. Mr. Forman has confined himself exclusively to fiirming operations since his return from the West, and has his land in an excellent state of cultivation. In 1874 he was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Tipton, daughter of Elijah Tipton, a former resident of Macoupin county. By this union there has been born a family of fi)ur children, Samuel E , William, Nellie, May and Sarah. Politically Mr. Forman is a staunch Republican.
Passage source: History of Madison County, Illinois ... With Biographical Sketches .., published 1882.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Fires near this place
4 since 2009Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Dorsey between 2009 and 2010, burning about 44 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 |
| Smoking | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 March 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.5 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | HOPKINS |
| 29 March 2010 | Smoking | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | TITCHNAL |
| 20 March 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 90331 |
| 15 January 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 90117 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
5 since 2003Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Dorsey in 5 storm reports between 2003 and 2026: 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 hail. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dorsey | $30,000 | Thunderstorm winds destroyed a machine shed as well as a smaller shed near Dorsey, Illinois. |
| July 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dorsey | - | Thunderstorm winds blew several large trees between Dorsey and Marine. |
| April 2006 | Tornado (F0) | Dorsey | - | A small but rather long tornado first formed in Madison County just north of Dorsey. Trees were damaged and roof shingles were blown off a couple of homes. The tornado continued into Macoupin County. |
| April 2026 | Hail | Dorsey | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dorsey | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midway | 3.5 miles | 14 | |
| Moro | 3.5 miles | 23 | |
| Fosterburg | 3.9 miles | 23 | |
| Prairietown | 4.2 miles | 14 | |
| Holiday Shores | 4.8 miles | 14 | |
| Bethalto | 4.9 miles | 23 | |
| Meadowbrook | 5.2 miles | 23 | |
| Forest Homes | 6.1 miles | 23 |
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 Dorsey | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q5298886 | 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 422634. 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.
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.