Palmyra, Illinois
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1923 and the latest in 1998. It stands in North Palmyra Township. It lies in ZIP code area 62674. The Survey maps it on the Palmyra quadrangle. 605 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 671 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresPalmyra fell from 698 to 605 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 | 698 | |
| 2020 | 605 | -93 (-13%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 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.
- 1923 USGS Carlinville quadrangle1:48000
- 1925 USGS Carlinville quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1931 USGS Carlinville quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Decatur quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1961 USGS Decatur quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1979 USGS Palmyra quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1982 USGS Litchfield quadrangle1:100000
- 1998 USGS Palmyra quadrangle1:24000
In the county-history sources
1,711 words on this townshipHistory of Macoupin County, Illinois : Biographical and Pictorial, published 1911 names this settlement in its chapter on North Palmyra Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
This township lies in the extreme northern portion of the county. It is geographically known as township 12, range 8 west, and contains 23,040 acres of land. It is bounded on the north by Morgan county, on the east by North Otter township, on the south by South Palmyra and on the west by Scottville townships. There is some timber to be found here but the land is mostly a fertile prairie, under a high state of cultivation. Apple creek drains the northern portion, while the east side is drained by Massey creek, the central and southern portions by Solomon's creek and the western portion by Joe's creek.
Passage source: History of Macoupin County, Illinois : Biographical and Pictorial, published 1911.
After this time settlers came in quite rapidly. John Nevins, Sr., came from Madison county in 1827 and bought the improvements of Elijah Wills. In the same year John Nevins, Jr. and John Scott, with their families, arrived and settled on section 7. William Nevins, the father of John, came and settled on the same section. Jacob Nifong came here in 1828 and bought the improvements of John Nevins. James Howard came from Morgan county in 1828. He married a daughter of Judge Solomon and became the first schoolteacher in the township. Alexander Carson came from Kentucky and settled on section 28. This was in the spring of 1828. The same year I. B. Vancil and Spencer Norvill came and settled in the township. Aaron Turner and Larkin Richardson arrived in 1829. In 1830 John Cherry and Russell, William, Henry and John Taber arrived in the township. All settled just north of the present site of Palmyra. Robert Ross came in 1829 or 1830 and settled on section 27. Joseph King came in 1829. locating on section 28. His brother David joined him here in 1835. James Pocklington, an Englishman, came with his family in August, 1830. Isham Gibson was an early settler.
Passage source: History of Macoupin County, Illinois : Biographical and Pictorial, published 1911.
The Methodist denomination built the first church in 1840. It was located a mile and a half north of the village of Palmyra and was called Bethel. It was constructed of hewed logs and was subsequently used for school purposes.
Passage source: History of Macoupin County, Illinois : Biographical and Pictorial, published 1911.
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 North Palmyra Township - it names this place 6 more 6 times.
Storms near this place
21 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Palmyra in 21 storm reports between 1995 and 2015: 11 hail, 6 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 1 funnel cloud. 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 1998 | Tornado (F1) | Palmyra | $50,000 | no account filed |
| July 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Palmyra | $200 | Large trees were blown down. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Palmyra | - | Thunderstorm winds caused a wide swath of damage across Macoupin County. Numerous trees, tree limbs, and power lines were blown down in Modesto, Palmyra, Girard, and Carlinville. In Carlinville, a retirement home and an apartment building sustained minor to moderate roof damage. |
| October 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Palmyra | - | Thunderstorm winds blew down three power poles on Illinois Route 111. |
| June 2011 | Flash Flood | Palmyra | - | Up to three inches of rain fell in a short amount of time causing flash flooding. Numerous roads around the Virden area were flooded. |
| January 2008 | Hail | Palmyra | - | One inch hail fell in Modesto...while golfball sized hail was reported in Girard. |
| April 2003 | Hail | Palmyra | - | The County Sheriff reported golf ball size hail just west of Palmyra. |
| May 2002 | Tornado (F0) | Palmyra | - | A small tornado formed just west of Palmyra and was witnessed by several people. The tornado took down some trees and power lines. |
| April 2002 | Hail | Palmyra | - | The County Sheriff Department reported 1 inch hail. |
| February 2008 | Hail | Palmyra | - | no account filed |
| July 2006 | Hail | Palmyra | - | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Hail | Palmyra | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Palmyra | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Funnel Cloud | Palmyra | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Palmyra | - | no account filed |
| April 2002 | Hail | Palmyra | - | no account filed |
| August 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Palmyra | - | no account filed |
| August 1999 | Hail | Palmyra | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Palmyra | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Hail | Palmyra | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Hail | Palmyra | - | no account filed |
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.
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 Palmyra | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2319494 | 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 415323. 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.
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.







