Prairie Center, Illinois
25 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Freedom Township. It lies in ZIP code area 61350. The Survey maps it on the Prairie Center quadrangle. It stands 673 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 25 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.
- 1892 USGS Ottawa quadrangle1:62500, 9 printings
- 1915 USGS Ottawa quadrangle1:62500, 7 printings
- 1946 USGS Ottawa quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Aurora quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1961 USGS Aurora quadrangle1:250000
- 1970 USGS Prairie Center quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Ottawa quadrangle1:100000
- 1991 USGS Ottawa quadrangle1:100000
In the county-history sources
2,052 words on this townshipHistory 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 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for smaller places. Its township is covered in full.
The chapter on Freedom Township covers the township.
Read the chapter on Freedom Township - 2,052 words.
Fires near this place
2 since 2014Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Prairie Center between 2014 and 2017, burning about 46 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 | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 April 2014 | Debris and open burning | 40 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 14-0000047 |
| 19 March 2017 | Debris and open burning | 6.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 17-63 |
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 Prairie Center: 1 past producer. None of them 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.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wiley Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
5 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Prairie Center in 5 storm reports between 2006 and 2023: 2 hail, 2 tornado, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2015 | Tornado (EF1) | Prairie Center | $100,000 | Several trees were snapped or uprooted, including one tree that fell onto a house. Peak winds were estimated to be 90 mph. (Tornado 5 of 10). |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Prairie Center | - | Part of the roof of a farm building was peeled off. |
| June 2016 | Tornado (EF1) | Prairie Center | - | The tornado started three tenths of a mile northeast of the intersection of Rt 33 and E 13th Rd. As the tornado moved off to the southeast, a corn dryer with three 1-ton blocks tipped over in between four full grain bins. Peak winds were estimated at 95 mph, and max width was 50 yards. (Tornado 8 of 15). |
| April 2023 | Hail | Prairie Center | - | no account filed |
| September 2006 | Hail | Prairie Center | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freedom Centre (historical) | 3.1 miles | 25 | |
| Waltham | 4.7 miles | 20 | |
| Triumph | 5.1 miles | 20 | |
| Harding | 5.5 miles | 9 | |
| Munson (historical) | 5.9 miles | 9 | |
| Troy Grove | 7.9 miles | 20 | |
| Earlville | 8.3 miles | 8 | |
| Meriden | 8.8 miles | 11 |
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 Prairie Center | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7237820 | 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 416097. 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.







