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.
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
Fort de ChartresNational Historic Landmark · listed 1966
Creole Houselisted 1973
French Colonial Historic Districtlisted 1974
Population over time
2 figuresPrairie 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 604 | |
| 2020 | 502 | -102 (-17%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 19 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.
- 1915 USGS Renault quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1940 USGS Renault quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1949 USGS Saint Louis quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS St. Louis quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS St. Louis quadrangle1:250000
- 1963 USGS St. Louis quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1966 USGS St. Louis quadrangle1:250000
- 1970 USGS Prairie Du Rocher quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1985 USGS Festus quadrangle1:100000
- 1993 USGS Prairie Du Rocher quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
4 since 2007Regional 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/undetermined | 2 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 March 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | HOLDENEE |
| 11 March 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | not named |
| 16 December 2020 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 111920 |
| 23 January 2013 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 13-00000002 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
6 within 5 milesRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prairie Du Rocher Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Solvay Mine | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Southern Missouri Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Stotz Quarry Mine | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Unknown - Ls | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Limestone Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
16 since 1995Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2025 | Tornado (EF1) | Prairie Du Rocher | $30,000 | A 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 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Prairie Du Rocher | $15,000 | no account filed |
| June 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Prairie Du Rocher | $4,400 | Large trees and power lines were knocked down. Some of the trees damaged roofs and parked cars in Pr. Du Rocher. |
| July 2021 | Flash Flood | Prairie 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 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Prairie Du Rocher | - | Thunderstorm winds blew down numerous large tree limbs around town. |
| August 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Prairie 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 2005 | Hail | Prairie Du Rocher | - | A storm spotter reported 3/4 inch hail. |
| June 2018 | Hail | Prairie Du Rocher | - | no account filed |
| April 2011 | Hail | Prairie Du Rocher | - | no account filed |
| May 2010 | Hail | Prairie Du Rocher | - | no account filed |
| April 2006 | Hail | Prairie Du Rocher | - | no account filed |
| March 2005 | Hail | Prairie Du Rocher | - | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Prairie Du Rocher | - | no account filed |
| April 1998 | Hail | Prairie Du Rocher | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Prairie Du Rocher | - | no account filed |
| March 1997 | Hail | Prairie Du Rocher | - | 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 Prairie du Rocher | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2300500 | 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 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.









