Herscher, Illinois
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1923 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Pilot Township. It lies in ZIP code area 60941. The Survey maps it on the Herscher quadrangle. 1,521 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 655 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresHerscher fell from 1,591 to 1,521 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 | 1,591 | |
| 2020 | 1,521 | -70 (-4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 12 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.
- 1923 USGS Herscher quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1925 USGS Herscher quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Aurora quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1961 USGS Aurora quadrangle1:250000
- 1973 USGS Herscher quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS Ottawa quadrangle1:100000
- 1991 USGS Ottawa quadrangle1:100000
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 Herscher: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sulfur. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hershey Sulfur Plant | Sulfur | Producer |
Storms near this place
20 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Herscher in 20 storm reports between 1995 and 2026: 9 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail, 3 tornado, 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Herscher | $3,000 | A large tree was blown down onto power lines approximately a block south of Route 115 on Main Street. A few utility poles and numerous small branches were blown down throughout the village. |
| December 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Herscher | $2,000 | Utility poles were blown down. |
| June 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Herscher | - | A photo was shared of corn flattened in the Herscher area by wind and hail. |
| May 2020 | Flash Flood | Herscher | - | Flooding was reported across most roads in the Herscher area including flood waters across all of Route 115, which was closed during the peak of the heavy rain. Horse Creek was 90% full at 9000 W Road and well over its banks at 10000 W Road. Pilot Drive was also flooded. Storm total rainfall of 4.10 inches was reported in Herscher. |
| June 2020 | Flash Flood | Herscher | - | Over a foot of water was reported on Route 115 and S 12000 W Road. |
| August 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Herscher | - | Trees, tree limbs and power lines were blown down in Herscher. Almost everyone lost power. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Herscher | - | Large tree downed onto care and home. Time estimated from radar. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Herscher | - | Tree limbs were blown down. |
| June 2007 | Tornado (EF0) | Herscher | - | A brief tornado touched down near Herscher. No damage was reported. |
| May 2005 | Hail | Herscher | - | Golfball size hail broke windows, dented cars and damaged roofs in Herscher. |
| October 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Herscher | - | Power lines were blown at 600W and 2000S Roads. |
| July 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Herscher | - | Trees down south of Illinois Route 17 in the vicinity of Herscher and Kankakee. |
| March 2026 | Hail | Herscher | - | no account filed |
| March 2026 | Hail | Herscher | - | no account filed |
| July 2015 | Hail | Herscher | - | no account filed |
| June 2015 | Hail | Herscher | - | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Herscher | - | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Tornado (F0) | Herscher | - | no account filed |
| April 1996 | Tornado (F0) | Herscher | - | no account filed |
| May 1995 | Hail | Herscher | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pilot Center (historical) | 1.3 miles | 12 | |
| Dickeys | 3.2 miles | 12 | |
| Buckingham | 4.1 miles | 11 | |
| Goodrich | 4.6 miles | 12 | |
| Union Hill | 4.8 miles | 11 | |
| Lehigh | 6.0 miles | 12 | |
| Irwin | 6.0 miles | 15 | |
| Bonfield | 7.1 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 Herscher | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2278041 | 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 410110. 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.
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.






