Elwood, Illinois
22 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1999. It stands in Jackson Township. It lies in ZIP code area 60421. The Survey maps it on the Elwood quadrangle. 2,229 people lived here at the 2020 count.
On record in Elwood
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 within a mile 1 record
The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.
- Alternate Route 66, Wilmington to Joiletlisted 2006 · 0.6 miles away
Population over time
2 figuresElwood fell from 2,279 to 2,229 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 | 2,279 | |
| 2020 | 2,229 | -50 (-2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 22 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.
- 1892 USGS Wilmington quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1918 USGS Wilmington quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1953 USGS Elwood quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1954 USGS Wilmington quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Aurora quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1961 USGS Aurora quadrangle1:250000
- 1985 USGS Ottawa quadrangle1:100000
- 1991 USGS Ottawa quadrangle1:100000
- 1993 USGS Elwood quadrangle1:24000
- 1999 USGS Elwood quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
21 since 2002Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 21 fires within 5 miles of Elwood between 2002 and 2020, burning about 365 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 1 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 |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 9 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 September 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Midewin National Tall Grass Prairie | ROUTE 53 FIRE |
| 15 August 2008 | Debris and open burning | 6.5 acres | Midewin National Tall Grass Prairie | MILLSDALE FIRE |
| 9 July 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.5 acres | Midewin National Tall Grass Prairie | WELDER FIRE |
| 28 July 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Midewin National Tall Grass Prairie | IRON BRIDGE TRAILHEA |
| 8 May 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Midewin National Tall Grass Prairie | IRON BRIDGE FIRE |
| 6 April 2005 | Smoking | under an acre | Midewin National Tall Grass Prairie | SOUTH ARSENAL FIRE |
| 25 April 2018 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 9.2 acres | Midewin National Tall Grass Prairie | CENTER POINT |
| 20 April 2008 | Smoking | under an acre | Midewin National Tall Grass Prairie | IRON BRIDGE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
6 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Elwood: 3 occurrences, 2 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vicks Quarry | Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Jackson Township Hwy. Dept. | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Jackson Township Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Limestone Prospect | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence | ||
| Limestone Prospect | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence | ||
| Limestone Prospect | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
8 since 2004Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Elwood in 8 storm reports between 2004 and 2025: 6 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elwood | $50,000 | One wall of a house was blown in by strong winds. Several trees and tree limbs were blown down. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elwood | $25,000 | A crane was damaged when high winds pushed part of a cement wall onto the crane. The cement wall was part of a building under construction. |
| September 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elwood | - | Two trees were blown down near the Hoff Road entrance to the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie. A nearby personal weather station measured a wind gust to 50 mph at 8 feet above ground. |
| September 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elwood | - | Wind gusts were estimated between 50 and 60 mph. Tree limbs 2 inches in diameter were blown down. |
| September 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elwood | - | Damage was reported to buildings at a farm on the corner of Hoff and Rowell Roads. Some trees were uprooted and corn was flattened. |
| June 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elwood | - | Tree limbs of varying sizes and power lines down. |
| June 2004 | Lightning | Elwood | - | House struck by lightning on Redwood Rd. |
| September 2011 | Hail | Elwood | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drummond | 3.4 miles | 23 | |
| Millsdale | 3.5 miles | 23 | |
| Blodgett | 4.5 miles | 23 | |
| Symerton | 6.1 miles | 21 | |
| Preston Heights | 6.3 miles | 22 | |
| Rock Run Park | 6.4 miles | 23 | |
| Channahon | 6.4 miles | 23 | |
| Birds | 6.7 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 Elwood | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1334394 | 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 407976. 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.









