BlockBefore

Elsah, Illinois

22 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1927 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Elsah Township. It lies in ZIP code area 62028. It lies near Babbs Hollow. The Survey maps it on the Elsah quadrangle. 519 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 433 feet above sea level.

Elsah within Jersey County

On record in Elsah

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 2 records

Population over time

2 figures

Elsah fell from 673 to 519 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
2010673
2020519-154 (-23%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 22 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

2,092 words on this township

History of Jersey County, Illinois, published 1919 names this settlement in its chapter on Elsah Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Just below the present site of Elsah, James Mason, an officer in the land office at Edwardsville, in April, 1828, entered thirty-five acres in section 20, township 6, range 11, and also land in section 21. The same month, Joseph Klunk entered the northeast fraction of section 25, border¬ ing on the Piasa Creek, where it enters into the Mississippi, east of where the town of Randolph was afterwards projected. Mr. Mason entered additional land in this part of the country the succeeding year, and also made purchases from others who had made entries.

Passage source: History of Jersey County, Illinois, published 1919.

Another forsaken and vanished town of Jersey County was Randolph, which was on the Mississippi River, half a mile above the mouth of Piasa Creek, and was laid out by a man named Bostwick about the same time as Eminence, in either 1836 or 1837. This was the site of the location of one of the earliest settlers of Elsah Township, William Bates. A sawTmill had been established there, and also a store, while there were about a half a dozen dwellings. The prosperity of Randolph declined, and two houses now occupy the site of the former town, the remaining lots having been converted into a farm.

Passage source: History of Jersey County, Illinois, published 1919.

In 1851-52 James Semple purchased from William H. Allen and wife, Addison Greene and other parties, a large body of land in sec¬ tions 17, 18, 19 and 20, township 6, range 11, the three last named being fractional sections along the Mississippi River. On April 7, 1855, he platted the village of Elsah, on the fractional northwest quarter of section 20, extending north from the river up what was then known as "Askew Hollow," named for Col. Josiah T. Askew, who, during his life¬ time, owned a sugar camp there. James Mason had entered this tract in 1820.

Passage source: History of Jersey County, Illinois, published 1919.

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 Elsah Township - it names this place 6 more 6 times.

Fires near this place

4 since 2010

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Elsah between 2010 and 2011, burning about 37 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 burning2
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2

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
6 April 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined35 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources11406001
2 April 2011Debris and open burningunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry Resources11402002
2 April 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry Resources11402004
5 March 2010Debris and open burning1.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources10305001

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Jersey 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 Elsah: 5 past producers. None of them 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
Twin Rivers Sand Pit No. 2Sand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Columbia Quarry CompanyStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Grafton QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Unnamed Limestone QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Western Whiting Company QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Jersey County

Storms near this place

15 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Elsah in 15 storm reports between 2000 and 2022: 9 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 1 tornado, 1 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
March 2022Thunderstorm WindElsah$5,000Thunderstorm winds blew over a large outside play structure that was anchored. Also, numerous large tree limbs were blown down in the area.
June 2019FloodElsah-The Mississippi River at Grafton, IL remained at it's highest levels between the morning of June 2nd and the morning of June 12th. In Grafton, a number of homes and businesses on the west side of Illinois Route 100 were flooded during this event.
August 2010Thunderstorm WindElsah-Thunderstorm winds blew down several trees which blocked Elsah Road.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindElsah-Several power lines were blown down on Principia College Campus.
May 2009Thunderstorm WindElsah-Thunderstorm winds blew down numerous large tree limbs and several trees.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindElsah-Numerous large tree limbs were blown down around town.
May 2008HailElsah-Local law enforcement and trained spotters reported one inch hail near Otterville, in Grafton, and in Elsah.
April 2006Thunderstorm WindElsah-Storm spotters reported large tree limbs down.
August 2004Thunderstorm WindElsah-Storm spotters reported 16 to 18 inch diameter tree limbs down. The limbs also took some power lines down.
July 2000Tornado (F0)Elsah-Storm spotters reported a brief tornado which only damaged a few trees.
April 2013HailElsah-no account filed
June 2006HailElsah-no account filed
June 2006HailElsah-no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindElsah-no account filed
July 2003Thunderstorm WindElsah-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Jersey 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
Chautauqua1.5 miles23
Beltrees1.8 miles22
Newbern3.7 miles12
Grafton3.9 miles23
Lockhaven3.9 miles22
Dow4.1 miles12
East Newbern4.7 miles12
Camden5.6 miles23

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 ElsahAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2034014The 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 407968. 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.