Kappa, Illinois
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1927 and the latest in 1995. It stands in El Paso Township. It lies in ZIP code area 61738. It stands on Wolf Creek. The Survey maps it on the El Paso quadrangle. 229 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 729 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresKappa grew from 227 to 229 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 | 227 | |
| 2020 | 229 | +2 (+1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 15 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.
- 1927 USGS Danvers quadrangle1:62500
- 1930 USGS Danvers quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Peoria quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1961 USGS Peoria quadrangle1:250000
- 1963 USGS Peoria quadrangle1:250000
- 1970 USGS El Paso quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS Peoria quadrangle1:100000
- 1989 USGS Peoria quadrangle1:100000
- 1990 USGS Peoria quadrangle1:250000
- 1995 USGS El Paso quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
9 since 2013Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 9 fires within 5 miles of Kappa between 2013 and 2014, burning about 15 acres in total. None started naturally. 3 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 |
|---|---|
| Arson/incendiarism | 3 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 September 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 2013-1467 |
| 6 June 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 2014-092 |
| 28 June 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 2014-105 |
| 1 June 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 2014-88 |
| 31 May 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 3.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 2014-87 |
| 12 May 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.5 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 2014-73 |
| 7 April 2014 | Debris and open burning | 6.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 2014-62 |
| 22 April 2014 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 2014-69 |
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Kappa: 1 past producer, 1 unknown. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Phosphorus-Phosphates. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Paso Fertilizer Co. | Phosphorus-Phosphates | Unknown | ||
| Evergreen Lake Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
3 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Kappa in 3 storm reports between 1998 and 2009: 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2009 | Lightning | Kappa | $45,000 | Lightning struck a tree near a house in Kappa, setting the power lines and part of the house on fire. The kitchen, a staircase and the room above the kitchen were damaged. A man, who was asleep when the fire started, escaped unharmed. |
| April 2006 | Tornado (F0) | Kappa | - | Continuation of McLean County tornado. No additional damage reported. |
| November 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kappa | - | In Kappa and El Paso, several power poles were blown down. Three miles northeast of El Paso, a couple of outbuildings were destroyed, the top half of a barn was blown off, and several power lines were blown down. No damage estimate was available. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Paso | 4.4 miles | 15 | |
| Panola | 7.5 miles | 12 | |
| Secor | 8.2 miles | 14 | |
| Bowling Green (historical) | 8.8 miles | 14 | |
| Congerville | 11.2 miles | 13 | |
| Woodford | 11.8 miles | 12 | |
| Mackinaw Dells | 12.4 miles | 13 | |
| Farmsville (historical) | 12.9 miles | 13 |
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 Kappa | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3252031 | 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 411309. 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.









