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Forsyth, Illinois

14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1929 and the latest in 1998. It stands in Hickory Point Township. It lies in ZIP code area 62526. The Survey maps it on the Forsyth quadrangle. 3,734 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 676 feet above sea level.

Forsyth within Macon County

Population over time

2 figures

Forsyth grew from 3,490 to 3,734 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
20103,490
20203,734+244 (+7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 14 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

4,955 words on this township

History of Macon County, Illinois : with Illustrations Descriptive of Its Scenery, and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, published 1880 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for smaller places. Its township is covered in full.

The chapter on Hickory Point Township covers the township.

Read the chapter on Hickory Point Township - 4,955 words.

Storms near this place

29 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Forsyth in 29 storm reports between 1995 and 2026: 14 thunderstorm wind, 11 hail, 2 tornado, 1 lightning. 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
May 1995Thunderstorm WindForsyth$1,400,000A downburst occurred in Forsyth damaging 43 homes (one home was destroyed, three homes had major damage, and four businesses had minor damage). There was also some minor damage to a public park. Damage was estimated around $1,400,000.
February 2009LightningForsyth$50,000Lightning struck a house on the west side of Forsyth causing a fire, and extensive damage to the home. There were no injuries, although the family dog had to be rescued by fire personnel.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindForsyth$35,000Windows were blown out at the Best Buy store in Forsyth. A piece of roof was torn off Lowes.
July 2015Tornado (EF0)Forsyth$15,000A tornado touched down about 0.3 miles south of Forsyth at 9:25 PM CDT. The tornado snapped several trees at their tops, damaged a shed, destroyed a dog kennel, blew a garage door partially in, and created minor roof damage to two homes before quickly dissipating at 9:26 PM CDT.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindForsyth$8,000Large tree limbs were blown down and caused roof damage to a house.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindForsyth$6,000A few trees were blown down.
August 2025Thunderstorm WindForsyth-All the west-facing air conditioner units at a hotel were pushed inward due to strong thunderstorm winds. In addition, a trailer was rolled over and a large tree was blown onto power lines.
August 2025Thunderstorm WindForsyth-Extensive tree damage occurred on a property in Forsyth.
August 2025Thunderstorm WindForsyth-Numerous trees and tree branches were blown down in Montezuma Hills.
August 2025Thunderstorm WindForsyth-Numerous trees were blown down and minor structural damage occurred at Hickory Point Mall.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindForsyth-Several large tree branches were blown down.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindForsyth-A large tree branch was blown down on the corner of Lucile Avenue and Highway 51.
September 2022Flash FloodForsyth-Water was flowing across roads in Forsyth.
July 2005Thunderstorm WindForsyth-Concrete block, reinforced wall blown over and destroyed.
August 2004Thunderstorm WindForsyth-Several power lines were blown down.
April 2000Tornado (F1)Forsyth-The tornado touched down west northwest of the intersection of Route 51 and County Route 20. The tornado then crossed Route 51 moving to the northeast. It damaged a couple of large oil pipeline storage tanks (put large dents in them), then the tornado weakened in an open field and dissipated.
August 2000Thunderstorm WindForsyth-Numerous trees and power lines were blown down, as well as a shed. A house under construction was also damaged. The extent of damage to the house was not known.
April 1997Thunderstorm WindForsyth-Thunderstorm winds damaged 3 sheds, destroyed a detached garage, caused minor siding and roof damage to ten homes and blew over a large store sign in Forsyth. No injuries were reported and no damage estimate was available.
March 2026HailForsyth-no account filed
May 2025HailForsyth-no account filed
May 2025HailForsyth-no account filed
March 2024HailForsyth-no account filed
March 2024HailForsyth-no account filed
March 2024HailForsyth-no account filed
March 2024HailForsyth-no account filed
March 2024HailForsyth-no account filed
June 2013HailForsyth-no account filed
June 2013HailForsyth-no account filed
April 1998HailForsyth-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Macon 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
Emery3.2 miles14
Larkdale3.7 miles14
Bearsdale4.0 miles11
Oreana4.6 miles14
Longview Place5.6 miles14
Faries Park (historical)5.8 miles14
Warrensburg5.9 miles11
Decatur6.4 miles14

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 ForsythAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2253088The 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 408542. 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.

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.