Florence, Illinois

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.

• 1942 USGS Forreston quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
• 1945 USGS Forreston quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
• 1954 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000
• 1955 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000
• 1958 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
• 1963 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000
• 1981 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
• 1983 USGS Shannon quadrangle1:24000

The History of Stephenson County, Illinois : Containing ... Biographical Sketches ... War Record ... Statistics ... Portraits of Early Settlers ... History of the Northwest, History of Illinois, &c. .., published 1880 names this settlement in its chapter on Florence Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 9 fires within 5 miles of Florence between 2010 and 2020, burning about 3 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.

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

• Bolton
• South Freeport
• Valley Creek (historical)
• Browns Mill
• Evarts
• Freeport

Every fire recorded in Stephenson County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Florence: 6 past producers, 1 producer. 1 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.

Every working recorded in Stephenson County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Florence in 5 storm reports between 1999 and 2023: 4 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.

Every storm recorded in Stephenson County

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

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.

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 408469. 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.