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Equality, Illinois

22 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1916 and the latest in 1996. It stands in Equality Township. It lies in ZIP code area 62934. It stands on Cockerel Branch. The Survey maps it on the Equality quadrangle. 539 people lived here at the 2020 count.

Equality within Gallatin County

On record in Equality

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 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Equality fell from 595 to 539 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
2010595
2020539-56 (-9%)

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.

Fires near this place

9 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 9 fires within 5 miles of Equality between 2000 and 2020, burning about 385 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/undetermined7
Equipment and vehicle use1
Debris and open burning1

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
29 May 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources201913
19 April 2000Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresShawnee National ForestSULPHUR SPRINGS
3 March 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined10 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources202010
5 October 2019Debris and open burning8.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources201936
21 October 2020Equipment and vehicle use178 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources202048
21 October 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources202050
18 October 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresShawnee National ForestSALTWELL
17 October 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.1 acresShawnee National ForestLOWER WF

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Gallatin 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 Equality: 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 Gallatin County

Storms near this place

17 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Equality in 17 storm reports between 2002 and 2016: 5 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 3 tornado, 3 flash flood. The reports record 13 injuries. 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
February 2012Tornado (EF4)Equality13 hurt, $1,000,000The tornado crossed into Gallatin County from Saline County in the vicinity of Illinois Highway 142. The tornado moved east-northeast through very sparsely populated farm country before striking Ridgway directly. In Ridgway, the tornado damaged about 140 homes and businesses, causing one critical injury and about a dozen relatively minor injuries. Numerous cars were tossed around, mainly on the east side of Ridgway. A large historic church was completely destroyed. Hundreds of large trees were snapped or uprooted, along with many power lines down. A half dozen grain bins were destroyed. The tornado lifted about 4 miles east-northeast of Ridgway. The average path width was 275 yards. Peak winds were estimated near 180 mph.
May 2011Thunderstorm WindEquality$400,000A microburst with estimated peak winds near 90 mph struck the south side of Equality and continued northeast to the intersection of Highways 13 and 1. The path width averaged about one-half mile. Two mobile homes were destroyed and a barn was levelled on the south side of Equality. A section of metal roof about 250 feet long was blown off the county high school near the intersection of Illinois Routes 13 and 1. Several other homes sustained mainly minor roof damage. Trees and tree limbs were blown down throughout the area.
May 2011Tornado (EF1)Equality$250,000Several homes and buildings sustained minor to moderate damage in the Junction and Shawneetown areas. Several barns or sheds were destroyed, and many dozens of trees were uprooted or snapped. Several trained spotters reported seeing a funnel cloud in the Shawneetown area. Peak winds were estimated near 105 mph. The average path width was 150 yards.
May 2011FloodEquality$30,000no account filed
April 2015Thunderstorm WindEquality$25,000Numerous trees and power lines were down between the communities of Equality and Shawneetown. This swath of wind damage was associated with a small bow echo on radar.
March 2006Thunderstorm WindEquality$10,000Downed power poles were reported on Route 1 just south of Route 13.
July 2016Flash FloodEquality$5,000Highway 142 was impassable near the Saline County line. A car was stuck in floodwater on Illinois Route 142 near Equality. Numerous state roads in Gallatin County were partially covered with water.
February 2014Thunderstorm WindEquality$3,000A carport was blown into a roadway.
April 2015Heavy RainEquality-Storm total rainfall was 3.50 inches.
April 2014Flash FloodEquality-Lots of running water was across Highway 142 in the city limits.
April 2008Flash FloodEquality-Several secondary roads were underwater. Route 1 was partially flooded.
June 2004HailEquality-Quarter-size hail fell at the intersection of Highways 1 and 13, just east of Equality.
April 2002Tornado (F0)Equality-The tornado briefly touched down in open country and produced no known damage.
May 2016HailEquality-no account filed
January 2012Thunderstorm WindEquality-no account filed
April 2002HailEquality-no account filed
April 2002HailEquality-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Gallatin 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
Lawler3.1 miles22
Kedron4.7 miles22
Junction5.7 miles23
Ridgway6.3 miles18
Elba6.4 miles18
Leamington6.8 miles22
New Market (historical)6.8 miles19
Gibsonia7.4 miles22

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 EqualityAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2543809The 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 408051. 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.