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Lostant, Illinois

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1934 and the latest in 1998. It stands in Hope Township. It lies in ZIP code area 61334. The Survey maps it on the Tonica quadrangle. 423 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 691 feet above sea level.

Lostant within LaSalle County

Population over time

2 figures

Lostant fell from 498 to 423 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
2010498
2020423-75 (-15%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 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.

In the county-history sources

288 words on this township

History of LaSalle County, Illinois : Its Topography, Geology, Botany, Natural History, History of the Mound Builders, Indian Tribes, French Explorations, and a Sketch of the Pioneer Settlers of Each Town to 1840, with an Appendix, Giving the Present Status of the County, Its Population, Resources, Manufactures and Institutions, published 1877 names this settlement in its chapter on Hope Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Samuel D. MeCaleb, from Rockbridge County, Virginia, and his wife, Catharine Wood, from Mason County, Kentucky, settled on Ox Bow Prairie, Putnam County, in August, 1832, where Samuel D. died in September, 1839. His widow moved to 8. $ 8. 9, town of Hope, with her family of five boys and one girl, in April, 1850. She is now living in Lostant. Her children are; Albert G., in Lostant; Gilbe B., Lostant; Herbert C., Wenona ; Ethel red Missouri; and Hubert A., in Ottawa; the sister is now dead.

Passage source: History of LaSalle County, Illinois : Its Topography, Geology, Botany, Natural History, History of the Mound Builders, Indian Tribes, French Explorations, and a Sketch of the Pioneer Settlers of Each Town to 1840, with an Appendix, Giving the Present Status of the County, Its Population, Resources, Manufactures and Institutions, published 1877.

John M. Richey, from Muskingum County, Ohio, came to Putnam County in 1887, He entered S. 24 in Hope, in 1849, on which he resided till his death in 1875. The village of Lostant was laid out on Mr. Richey's farm in 1861. He married Clara 0, Colster, and left three living children: Mary C., Candace M., and John C.

Passage source: History of LaSalle County, Illinois : Its Topography, Geology, Botany, Natural History, History of the Mound Builders, Indian Tribes, French Explorations, and a Sketch of the Pioneer Settlers of Each Town to 1840, with an Appendix, Giving the Present Status of the County, Its Population, Resources, Manufactures and Institutions, published 1877.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Hope Township.

Fires near this place

5 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Lostant between 2008 and 2020, burning about 56 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 was 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/undetermined3
Arson/incendiarism1
Debris and open burning1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
23 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined20 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources923101
2 June 2020Debris and open burning6.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources2020-041
7 April 2008Arson/incendiarismunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry ResourcesGRIFFITH
2 November 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry ResourcesMERIDAN
10 November 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined30 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources1345

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in LaSalle County

Storms near this place

26 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lostant in 26 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 16 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 3 flood, 2 tornado. 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
July 2008Thunderstorm WindLostant$10,000The top of a grain elevator was blown off and a grain bin was leaning over.
June 2010Tornado (EF0)Lostant$5,000A NWS survey team found intermittent damage from the Putnam County line to just east of East 1st Road, about one half mile south of Illinois Route 18. The damage consisted primarily of tree and minor structural damage to farm buildings. See Stormdata for Illinois, Northwest for the beginning of this tornado.
November 2015Thunderstorm WindLostant$1,000Tree branches and powerlines down as reported by LaSalle County Emergency Manager.
June 2015Thunderstorm WindLostant$1,000A tree snapped onto power lines at 4th Street and Pond Street.
March 2025Thunderstorm WindLostant-A farm building was damaged northwest of Lostant.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindLostant-A stretch of crop damage was noted along Spitzer Rd south of Tonica between just west of I-39 and E 8th Rd. Corn was found flattened and all facing toward the southeast. Among the number of corn fields impacted, the spotter estimated anywhere between 30% and 80% of crops in any given field were lost.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindLostant-A stretch of crop damage was noted along Spitzer Rd south of Tonica between I-39 and E 8th Rd. Corn was found flattened and all facing toward the southeast. Among the number of corn fields impacted, the spotter estimated anywhere between 30% and 80% of crops in any given field were lost.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindLostant-High resolution satellite imagery showed patches of crops blown down in the vicinity of Lostant and Tonica.
February 2024Thunderstorm WindLostant-An NWS storm survey determined straight line winds produced damage to several power poles along N 14th Rd southwest of Lostant.
February 2024Thunderstorm WindLostant-A report was received of a semi truck blown over on I-39 near mile marker 43.
May 2023Thunderstorm WindLostant-A local fire official reported power lines and large tree limbs down in and around Lostant. Shingle and siding damage to some homes was also reported.
May 2023Thunderstorm WindLostant-A private weather station recorded 55-60 mph gusts for a more than 10 minute period with a peak of 62 mph.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindLostant-Small tree limbs were blown down.
May 2011FloodLostant-Over a 12 hour period, 4.30 inches of rain was measured in Lostant causing ditches along Highway 251 to fill and overflow. Two to three inches of water was on North 14th Road, and the eastbound lane of Illinois Route 18 had four to six inches of water.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindLostant-Winds gusting to 60 mph was measured on Interstate 39 approximately one mile north of Route 18.
May 2009FloodLostant-Street flooding was reported in Lostant.
March 2007FloodLostant-Street and basement flooding reported in Lostant. Streator meassured 2.28 inches of rainfall.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindLostant-A semi truck was blown over on Interstate 39.
May 2000Tornado (F0)Lostant-A trained spotter observed a tornado over a rural area southwest of Lostant. It lasted about 3 or 4 minutes before dissipating. No damage was reported.
March 2016HailLostant-no account filed
April 2015HailLostant-no account filed
April 2015Thunderstorm WindLostant-no account filed
March 2006HailLostant-no account filed
March 2006HailLostant-no account filed
May 2000Thunderstorm WindLostant-no account filed
May 1995HailLostant-no account filed

Every storm recorded in LaSalle 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
Milla4.1 miles11
Tonica5.1 miles12
Leonore5.3 miles11
Ticona5.6 miles12
Mount Palatine6.5 miles11
Garfield6.8 miles11
Wilsman7.1 miles11
Lowell7.9 miles21

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 LostantAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2110357The 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 412669. 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.

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.