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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.

Rapids City within Rock Island County

Population over time

2 figures

Rapids 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.

YearPeople Change
2010959
2020964+5 (+1%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 23 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.

In the county-history sources

807 words on this township

Historic 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 2008

Regional 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 burning7
Missing data/not specified/undetermined3
Equipment and vehicle use2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
14 August 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry Resources18-119 BURN PILE/DITCH
4 July 2008Debris and open burningunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry ResourcesTREE
3 July 2017Debris and open burning1.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources17-111
24 July 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry Resources18-108 MM 1 I-88
6 June 2017Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources17-090
1 May 2008Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry ResourcesWHITETAIL DRIVE
12 March 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry Resources18-043
18 February 2017Power generation/transmission/distribution1.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources17-027

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Rock Island County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Hillside Plt & Quay Midway StoneStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Le Claire QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Rock River Stone QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer

Every working recorded in Rock Island County

Storms near this place

8 since 1995

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 1995Tornado (F3)Rapids City$200,000Port 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 2022Thunderstorm WindRapids City-Law Enforcement reported a tree down in Rapids City.
May 2019FloodRapids 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 2014HailRapids City-A Facebook user reported quarter sized hail in Rapids City, IL at 257 pm CDT August 25.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindRapids City-A 60 mph wind gust was recorded about 6 miles northeast of East Moline, IL at 534 am CDT June 9.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindRapids 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 2014HailRapids City-no account filed
April 1995HailRapids City-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Rock Island 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
Port Byron1.8 miles23
Cedar Brook2.3 miles23
Hampton3.9 miles21
Barstow4.4 miles23
Babcock4.6 miles21
Osborn5.5 miles23
Silvis6.1 miles21
Carbon Cliff6.5 miles14

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 CityAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2410206The 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.