Rapids City, Illinois
23 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Hampton Township. It lies in ZIP code area 61278. The Survey maps it on the Port Byron quadrangle. 964 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 584 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresRapids City grew from 959 to 964 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 | 959 | |
| 2020 | 964 | +5 (+1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
12 surveys from 23 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 Leclaire quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Leclaire quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1899 USGS Clinton quadrangle1:125000
- 1899 USGS Cordova quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1949 USGS Port Byron quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1950 USGS Port Byron quadrangle1:24000
- 1953 USGS Port Byron quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000
- 1984 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1991 USGS Port Byron quadrangle1:24000
In the county-history sources
807 words on this townshipHistoric Rock Island County; History of the Settlement of Rock Island County from the Earliest Known Period to the Present Time ... Embracing References of Importance, and Including a Biography of Rock Island County's Well-known Citizens, published 1908 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for smaller places. Its township is covered in full.
The chapter on Hampton Township covers the township.
Read the chapter on Hampton Township - 807 words.
Fires near this place
13 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 13 fires within 5 miles of Rapids City between 2008 and 2020, burning about 10 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 | 7 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 August 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 18-119 BURN PILE/DITCH |
| 4 July 2008 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | TREE |
| 3 July 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 17-111 |
| 24 July 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 18-108 MM 1 I-88 |
| 6 June 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 17-090 |
| 1 May 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | WHITETAIL DRIVE |
| 12 March 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 18-043 |
| 18 February 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 17-027 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Rapids City: 3 producers. All of them still produce. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hillside Plt & Quay Midway Stone | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Le Claire Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Rock River Stone Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer |
Storms near this place
8 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rapids City in 8 storm reports between 1995 and 2022: 3 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 flood. 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 1995 | Tornado (F3) | Rapids City | $200,000 | Port Byron, Hillsdale, and Cordova were the hardest hit communities from this tornado. The Gerald Smeltzly farm sustained $50.000 of damage and the Jimmy Franks farm received $30.000 of damage. Most out buildings received heavy damage while both homes received moderate damage. A tree branch was blown through the bedroom wall of the Smeltzly home protruding into the home at least a foot. |
| November 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rapids City | - | Law Enforcement reported a tree down in Rapids City. |
| May 2019 | Flood | Rapids City | - | The Mississippi River at Le Claire Lock and Dam 14 rose above its major flood stage of 13.5 feet during the morning of May 29th and continued into June. The river crested in June, with the stage rising to 15 feet at the end of May 31st. |
| August 2014 | Hail | Rapids City | - | A Facebook user reported quarter sized hail in Rapids City, IL at 257 pm CDT August 25. |
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rapids City | - | A 60 mph wind gust was recorded about 6 miles northeast of East Moline, IL at 534 am CDT June 9. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rapids City | - | Wind gusts estimated to be 60 to 70 mph were observed 6 miles northeast of East Moline, IL at 749 pm June 18. |
| August 2014 | Hail | Rapids City | - | no account filed |
| April 1995 | Hail | Rapids City | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Port Byron | 1.8 miles | 23 | |
| Cedar Brook | 2.3 miles | 23 | |
| Hampton | 3.9 miles | 21 | |
| Barstow | 4.4 miles | 23 | |
| Babcock | 4.6 miles | 21 | |
| Osborn | 5.5 miles | 23 | |
| Silvis | 6.1 miles | 21 | |
| Carbon Cliff | 6.5 miles | 14 |
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 Rapids City | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2410206 | 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 416395. 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.











