Gardner, Illinois
10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1948 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Garfield Township. It lies in ZIP code area 60424. The Survey maps it on the Gardner quadrangle. 1,366 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 585 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresGardner fell from 1,463 to 1,366 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 | 1,463 | |
| 2020 | 1,366 | -97 (-7%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 10 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.
- 1948 USGS Dwight quadrangle1:62500
- 1950 USGS Dwight quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Aurora quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1961 USGS Aurora quadrangle1:250000
- 1983 USGS Gardner quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Ottawa quadrangle1:100000
- 1991 USGS Ottawa quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
14 since 2009Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 14 fires within 5 miles of Gardner between 2009 and 2018, burning about 273 acres in total. None started naturally. 4 were 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/undetermined | 10 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 4 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 August 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | BRACE12 |
| 5 May 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | BRACE10 |
| 29 May 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | BRACE11 |
| 26 April 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | BRAACE8 |
| 23 April 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 7.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | MAZONIA4 |
| 16 April 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 7.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | MAZONIA3 |
| 11 April 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | MAZONIA2 |
| 5 March 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | BRACE2 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Gardner: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Clay. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N.Ill.Coal Co.Clay Shale Pit 2 | Clay | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
13 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Gardner in 13 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 6 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 1 lightning, 1 flash 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2006 | Lightning | Gardner | $10,000 | Lightning struck a car on Interstate 55 near Gardner and blew out the windows. |
| August 2016 | Flash Flood | Gardner | $5,000 | Water running over roadways that typically do not flood. Estimated rainfall of over four inches in over an hour. |
| May 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gardner | $2,000 | Utility poles were blown down. |
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gardner | - | Photos shared on social media showed trees 1 to 2 feet in diameter blown down onto power lines. |
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gardner | - | A wind gust to 78.7 mph was reported. |
| September 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gardner | - | Trees and powerlines were blown down. |
| July 2013 | Hail | Gardner | - | Quarter size hail was reported near Interstate 55 and Gardner Road. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gardner | - | A semi truck was blown over near mile marker 227 on Interstate 55. |
| June 2015 | Hail | Gardner | - | no account filed |
| May 2006 | Hail | Gardner | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gardner | - | no account filed |
| April 1994 | Hail | Gardner | - | no account filed |
| April 1994 | Hail | Gardner | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Wilmington | 2.0 miles | 10 | |
| Mazonia | 2.2 miles | 10 | |
| East Brooklyn | 2.6 miles | 10 | |
| Braceville | 3.7 miles | 10 | |
| Central City | 3.9 miles | 10 | |
| Centerville (historical) | 5.0 miles | 20 | |
| Gorman | 5.5 miles | 20 | |
| Mazon | 7.0 miles | 11 |
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 Gardner | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2397837 | 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 408884. 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.






