Palmer, Illinois

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1946 and the latest in 1998. It stands in Bear Creek Township. It lies in ZIP code area 62556. The Survey maps it on the Morrisonville quadrangle. 216 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 623 feet above sea level.

Palmer within Christian County

Population over time

2 figures

Palmer fell from 229 to 216 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	229
2020	216	-13 (-6%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 13 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.

1946 USGS Nokomis quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
1949 USGS Nokomis quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
1958 USGS Decatur quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
1961 USGS Decatur quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
1980 USGS Morrisonville quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
1982 USGS Litchfield quadrangle1:100000
1998 USGS Morrisonville quadrangle1:24000

Fires near this place

1 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Palmer in 2005, burning under an acre in total. None started naturally. None 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/undetermined	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
30 June 2005	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Christian County

Storms near this place

9 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Palmer in 9 storm reports between 1999 and 2023: 5 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. The reports record 22 injuries. 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
December 2018	Tornado (EF3)	Palmer	22 hurt, $118,900,000	A tornado touched down about 3.2 miles east-southeast of Morrisonville at 5:01 PM CST. It hit a farmstead, destroying 3 barns and severely damaging 4 other out buildings. The tornado was rated EF2 at this location with maximum wind speeds of 112 mph. The tornado continued moving northeastward, hitting several other outbuildings and snapping trees. The tree and outbuilding damage was classified as EF1 damage with wind speeds of 100-110mph. As the tornado continued to the northeast it snapped more large trees and then hit a log home, removing 25-50% of the roof material. It also snapped many other trees on this property and destroyed a couple of small outbuildings, throwing the debris northward into a field. The tornado was rated EF2 at this location with wind speeds of 115mph. The tornado continued northeastward and moved into a wooded area, snapping and uprooting hundreds of trees along its path. It then curved north-northeastward and moved into Hewittville, a small community on the southern edge of Taylorville. Here the tornado destroyed or severely damaged multiple houses. The first house the tornado hit lost most exterior walls and the entire roof, except for the roof over the attached garage, which was on the north side of the house. It also destroyed a second garage on the property and then completely destroyed a mobile home across the street. The tornado was rated EF3 with wind speeds around 150mph at this location. The tornado continued north-northeastward, destroying a barn, pushing an unanchored home off its foundation and completely destroying another mobile home. This mobile home was partially anchored by wood posts set in slots on a concrete foundation over a basement and crawl space. The resident of this home was badly injured and was found unconscious, trapped under debris in the crawl space. The tornado was rated EF3 with wind speeds of 140mph at this location. As the tornado continued, it snapped and uprooted many more trees and took down power lines and power poles. Many more homes were damaged, to a lesser extent than the first few on the south end of town, with some damage to the homes coming from trees or tree branches falling on the homes. As the tornado moved into the northern part of Hewittville, the wind speeds seemed to increase, completely destroying another home and destroying a large, old building that had been part of an old rail-yard. The tornado also damaged other homes and garages in this area. The tornado was rated EF3 with wind speeds of 155mph at this location. As the tornado tracked north-northeastward, it moved into Taylorville, taking down more trees, power lines/poles, and damaging multiple houses. Several homes lost roofs and garages. The tornado continued through Taylorville damaging other homes and several businesses on West Spresser St. and was rated EF2 with wind speeds of 120-125mph at this point. As the tornado crossed Hwy 29 into the northern part of town, it weakened considerably, with the damage becoming less severe and more sporadic. The tornado dissipated 1.8 miles north of Taylorville at 5:25 PM CST. In total, the tornado impacted 506 structures...including major damage to 61 homes and 7 businesses and complete destruction of 28 homes. Total damage was estimated at $118.9 million.
April 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Palmer	$25,000	Several trees and power lines were blown down.
May 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Palmer	-	A few power lines were blown down.
February 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Palmer	-	Trees blown down.
May 2023	Hail	Palmer	-	no account filed
April 2022	Hail	Palmer	-	no account filed
May 2009	Hail	Palmer	-	no account filed
May 2009	Hail	Palmer	-	no account filed
June 1999	Hail	Palmer	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Christian 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
Clarksdale	2.9 miles	13
Morrisonville	3.8 miles	13
Vanderville	6.1 miles	13
Langleyville	7.7 miles	12
Jeisyville	8.2 miles	13
Taylorville	8.6 miles	12
Kincaid	9.0 miles	13
Bulpitt	9.3 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 Palmer	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2208813	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 415312. 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.