BlockBefore

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.

Herscher within Kankakee County

Population over time

2 figures

Herscher 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.

YearPeople Change
20101,591
20201,521-70 (-4%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 12 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.

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Hershey Sulfur PlantSulfurProducer

Every working recorded in Kankakee County

Storms near this place

20 since 1995

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2014Thunderstorm WindHerscher$3,000A 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 2007Thunderstorm WindHerscher$2,000Utility poles were blown down.
June 2024Thunderstorm WindHerscher-A photo was shared of corn flattened in the Herscher area by wind and hail.
May 2020Flash FloodHerscher-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 2020Flash FloodHerscher-Over a foot of water was reported on Route 115 and S 12000 W Road.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindHerscher-Trees, tree limbs and power lines were blown down in Herscher. Almost everyone lost power.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindHerscher-Large tree downed onto care and home. Time estimated from radar.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindHerscher-Tree limbs were blown down.
June 2007Tornado (EF0)Herscher-A brief tornado touched down near Herscher. No damage was reported.
May 2005HailHerscher-Golfball size hail broke windows, dented cars and damaged roofs in Herscher.
October 2005Thunderstorm WindHerscher-Power lines were blown at 600W and 2000S Roads.
July 1999Thunderstorm WindHerscher-Trees down south of Illinois Route 17 in the vicinity of Herscher and Kankakee.
March 2026HailHerscher-no account filed
March 2026HailHerscher-no account filed
July 2015HailHerscher-no account filed
June 2015HailHerscher-no account filed
May 2000Thunderstorm WindHerscher-no account filed
May 2000Tornado (F0)Herscher-no account filed
April 1996Tornado (F0)Herscher-no account filed
May 1995HailHerscher-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Kankakee 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
Pilot Center (historical)1.3 miles12
Dickeys3.2 miles12
Buckingham4.1 miles11
Goodrich4.6 miles12
Union Hill4.8 miles11
Lehigh6.0 miles12
Irwin6.0 miles15
Bonfield7.1 miles11

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 HerscherAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2278041The 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.