Pocahontas, Illinois
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1937 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Burgess Township. It lies in ZIP code area 62275. The Survey maps it on the Pocahontas quadrangle. 697 people lived here at the 2020 count.
Population over time
2 figuresPocahontas fell from 784 to 697 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 | 784 | |
| 2020 | 697 | -87 (-11%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 11 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.
- 1937 USGS New Douglas quadrangle1:48000
- 1937 USGS New Douglas quadrangle1:62500
- 1944 USGS New Douglas quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Belleville quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1962 USGS Belleville quadrangle1:250000
- 1974 USGS Pocahontas quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Carlyle Lake quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
19 since 2009Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 19 fires within 5 miles of Pocahontas between 2009 and 2014, burning about 50 acres 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 11 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 August 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 13124 |
| 21 August 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 13117 |
| 20 May 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 13073 |
| 9 March 2014 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 14054 |
| 6 March 2009 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | STEELE |
| 30 March 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 14072 |
| 30 March 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 14074 |
| 23 March 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 14067 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Pocahontas: 1 plant. All of them still produce. 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.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bob Buehne Supply Pit & Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Plant |
Storms near this place
23 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Pocahontas in 23 storm reports between 1993 and 2023: 12 thunderstorm wind, 9 hail, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 1999 | Hail | Pocahontas | $50,000 | no account filed |
| February 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pocahontas | $15,000 | Thunderstorm winds blew down numerous limbs and tore some siding off of a house about two miles north of Pocahontas. Just south southeast of Greenville the tin roof of an outbuilding was peeled up and several trees and tree limbs were blown down. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pocahontas | $10,000 | Thunderstorm winds blew down several trees, numerous tree limbs and several power lines. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pocahontas | $5,000 | As a line of storms moved through town, numerous large tree limbs were blown down and an 8 inch diameter tree was snapped off. |
| April 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pocahontas | $500 | Several large trees were blown across southern parts of the county, reported the county sheriff. |
| September 1993 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pocahontas | $500 | The county sheriff's office reported large trees down. Time was estimated. |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pocahontas | - | Thunderstorm winds blew down several road signs in Pocahontas. In Greenville, several large trees and numerous tree limbs were blown down. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pocahontas | - | Thunderstorm winds caused widespread damage between Pocahontas, Greenville, and Mulberry Grove. Numerous trees, tree limbs and power lines were blown down. In Greenville, an amateur radio antenna was bent and one fallen tree caused moderate damage to a home. In Mulberry Grove, the winds caused some damage to the roof of a mobile home. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pocahontas | - | Several power lines were blown down in Pocahontas. |
| February 2006 | Hail | Pocahontas | - | A storm spotter reported 1 inch hail south of Pocahontas. |
| April 2006 | Hail | Pocahontas | - | Storm spotters reported 3 inch hail. |
| April 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pocahontas | - | Storm spotters reported numerous trees and power lines down. The entire town was without power. |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pocahontas | - | A large tree limb was blown down. The tree limb knocked down a power line. |
| May 2004 | Lightning | Pocahontas | - | Lighting struck a tractor trailer on I-70 at the Pocahontas exit causing a brief fire in the cab. The driver was not injured. |
| May 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pocahontas | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts blew a large tree down onto the roof of a home just southeast of Pocahontas. A mobile home was also moved off its foundation. |
| April 2011 | Hail | Pocahontas | - | no account filed |
| May 2009 | Hail | Pocahontas | - | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Hail | Pocahontas | - | no account filed |
| April 2007 | Hail | Pocahontas | - | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Hail | Pocahontas | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Tornado (F1) | Pocahontas | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Hail | Pocahontas | - | no account filed |
| October 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pocahontas | - | 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.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pierron | 3.7 miles | 11 | |
| Stubblefield | 4.2 miles | 12 | |
| Old Ripley | 5.0 miles | 11 | |
| Dudleyville | 6.5 miles | 12 | |
| Greenville | 8.1 miles | 12 | |
| Beaver Creek | 8.8 miles | 12 | |
| Reno | 10.3 miles | 11 | |
| Ayers | 10.5 miles | 12 |
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 Pocahontas | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2309285 | 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 415967. 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.






