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Prairie du Rocher, Illinois

19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1915 and the latest in 1993. It stands in Prairie du Rocher precinct. It lies in ZIP code area 62277. It stands on Prairie Du Rocher. The Survey maps it on the Prairie du Rocher quadrangle. 502 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 394 feet above sea level.

Prairie du Rocher within Randolph County

On record in Prairie du Rocher

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 3 records

Population over time

2 figures

Prairie du Rocher fell from 604 to 502 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
2010604
2020502-102 (-17%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 19 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.

Fires near this place

4 since 2007

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Prairie du Rocher between 2007 and 2020, burning about 13 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2
Debris and open burning2

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
7 March 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry ResourcesHOLDENEE
11 March 2007Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resourcesnot named
16 December 2020Debris and open burning10 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources111920
23 January 2013Debris and open burningunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry Resources13-00000002

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Randolph County

Mines and quarries near this place

6 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Prairie du Rocher: 5 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Prairie Du Rocher QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Solvay MineStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Southern Missouri QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Stotz Quarry MineStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Unknown - LsStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Unnamed Limestone QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Randolph County

Storms near this place

16 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Prairie du Rocher in 16 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 8 hail, 6 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood, 1 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
May 2025Tornado (EF1)Prairie Du Rocher$30,000A brief tornado touched down just south of Prairie du Rocher, destroying an outbuilding before heading north-northeast. From there the tornado caused tree damage and damaged another farm outbuilding before dissipating just southwest of Route 155.
July 1999Thunderstorm WindPrairie Du Rocher$15,000no account filed
June 1995Thunderstorm WindPrairie Du Rocher$4,400Large trees and power lines were knocked down. Some of the trees damaged roofs and parked cars in Pr. Du Rocher.
July 2021Flash FloodPrairie Du Rocher-Up to four inches of rain fell in a short amount of time causing flash flooding. Numerous roads were flooded including Illinois Route 150 just west of intersection with Illinois Route 4.
September 2016Thunderstorm WindPrairie Du Rocher-Thunderstorm winds blew down numerous large tree limbs around town.
August 2010Thunderstorm WindPrairie Du Rocher-Thunderstorm winds blew down several large trees, tree limbs and power lines around town. One tree fell onto an unoccupied vehicle causing major damage.
May 2005HailPrairie Du Rocher-A storm spotter reported 3/4 inch hail.
June 2018HailPrairie Du Rocher-no account filed
April 2011HailPrairie Du Rocher-no account filed
May 2010HailPrairie Du Rocher-no account filed
April 2006HailPrairie Du Rocher-no account filed
March 2005HailPrairie Du Rocher-no account filed
June 2003Thunderstorm WindPrairie Du Rocher-no account filed
April 1998HailPrairie Du Rocher-no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindPrairie Du Rocher-no account filed
March 1997HailPrairie Du Rocher-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Randolph 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
Danley1.4 miles19
Modoc3.8 miles19
Marigold4.7 miles19
Kellogg5.1 miles19
Ruma6.3 miles13
Roots8.0 miles12
Evansville8.4 miles12
Collins8.9 miles12

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 du RocherAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2300500The 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 416094. 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.