Keensburg, Illinois

19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1903 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Coffee precinct. It lies in ZIP code area 62863. The Survey maps it on the Keensburg quadrangle. 174 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 436 feet above sea level.

Keensburg within Wabash County

Population over time

2 figures

Keensburg fell from 210 to 174 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	210
2020	174	-36 (-17%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 19 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.

1903 USGS Patoka quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
1904 USGS Mount Carmel quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
1956 USGS Vincennes quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
1957 USGS Vincennes quadrangle1:250000
1958 USGS Vincennes quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
1959 USGS Keensburg quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
1959 USGS Mount Carmel quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
1986 USGS Princeton quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Keensburg: 2 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
Albion Dredge and Mill	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Jack Hocking Sand Co.	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Keensburg Sand Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Wabash County

Storms near this place

14 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Keensburg in 14 storm reports between 2003 and 2023: 6 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 2 tornado, 1 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
April 2011	Tornado (EF2)	Keensburg	$2,500,000	Three steel towers carrying high-voltage power lines were bent or partially collapsed. A single wide mobile home was demolished. The frame was blown about 50 yards but was not bent. There was curvature in the debris field. A grain bin was blown one mile into a tree line, and three other grain bins were destroyed. Machine sheds were unroofed, with some walls collapsing. Barns were destroyed, and hundreds of trees were uprooted or snapped. Power poles were snapped. There was minor to moderate damage to house roofs. The tornado reached EF-2 intensity in sparsely populated areas. Where it crossed through the north and west part of Mount Carmel near the end of its path, the tornado weakened to EF-1 intensity. The damage in Mount Carmel consisted of numerous uprooted and snapped trees, moderate roof damage to at least 4 or 5 houses, and destroyed sheds. In the vicinity of where the tornado crossed Route 15, damage was minimal, consisting of just a few downed trees. Peak winds were near 125 mph. The average path width was about 100 yards.
May 2022	Tornado (EF2)	Keensburg	$500,000	The tornado touched down near Keensburg and moved northeast, passing across the southeast portion of Mount Carmel and across the Wabash River into Indiana. A few homes lost large portions of roofing, mainly shingles. Outbuildings and small sheds were destroyed. Numerous power lines were down. Many trees were snapped or uprooted. Many trees landed on homes and structures, causing some structural damage. Dozens of power poles were snapped off. A large machine shed lost small sections of metal roof and wall panels. Several pivot irrigation systems were flipped. Peak winds were estimated near 115 mph in Wabash County. The tornado crossed the Wabash River into Gibson County, Indiana.
November 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Keensburg	$50,000	In the Keensburg area, several barns were damaged or destroyed. A house sustained moderate damage. The wall of an attached garage was damaged, and outbuildings sustained major damage. Several utility poles and trees were knocked over. In Mount Carmel, tree limbs were blown down throughout the city, and a tree was down on Oak Street.
April 2014	Flood	Keensburg	$20,000	Moderate flooding occurred along the Wabash River. At the Mount Carmel river gage, the river crested at 27.14 feet on the 11th. Flood stage is 19 feet, and moderate flooding begins at 25 feet. Extensive agricultural flooding occurred in areas that are not protected by levees. Three Illinois township roads south of Illinois 1 between Keensburg and Grayville were flooded for a total of 10 miles, blocking access to oil fields. The flooding necessitated relocations of cattle and some farm equipment to higher ground. Numerous local river roads were flooded. Some mobile homes were moved to higher ground. Installation of flood gate A was required at Mount Carmel. Access to local camp sites was blocked by the gate, but there was minimal impact to commercial activities because of the gate closure.
May 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Keensburg	$2,000	Tree limbs were blown down.
June 2023	Hail	Keensburg	-	Golf ball size hail was reported near the intersection of County Road 350 and State Route 1.
January 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Keensburg	-	A trained spotter estimated the wind gusted to 60 mph.
April 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Keensburg	-	Wind gusts were estimated to 60 MPH in Mount Carmel and Keensburg.
April 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Keensburg	-	At least a couple of trees were blown down in Keensburg, one of which was very large. Large tree limbs were down in Mount Carmel. Wind gusts were estimated near 60 MPH at Keensburg and Bellmont.
July 2012	Hail	Keensburg	-	no account filed
February 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Keensburg	-	no account filed
June 2006	Hail	Keensburg	-	no account filed
March 2005	Hail	Keensburg	-	no account filed
April 2003	Hail	Keensburg	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Wabash 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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Logansburgh (historical)	1.5 miles	19
Rochester	2.2 miles	19
Schrodts Station	3.2 miles	20
Bellmont	3.3 miles	18
Maud	3.3 miles	20
Cowling	4.6 miles	19
New Hope (historical)	6.5 miles	18
Mount Carmel	7.0 miles	20

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 Keensburg	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q690246	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 411348. 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.