Raritan, Illinois
16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1918 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Raritan Township. It lies in ZIP code area 61471. The Survey maps it on the Raritan quadrangle. 102 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 760 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresRaritan fell from 138 to 102 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 | 138 | |
| 2020 | 102 | -36 (-26%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 16 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.
- 1918 USGS La Harpe quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Burlington quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1961 USGS Burlington quadrangle1:250000
- 1963 USGS Burlington quadrangle1:250000
- 1974 USGS Raritan quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Galesburg quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1989 USGS Galesburg quadrangle1:100000
- 1990 USGS Burlington quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
2 since 2013Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Raritan between 2013 and 2014, burning about 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 May 2014 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 201437 |
| 27 April 2013 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 201338 |
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 Raritan: 1 past producer. None of them 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dollar Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
7 since 2003Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Raritan in 7 storm reports between 2003 and 2024: 4 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 1 funnel cloud. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Raritan | $50,000 | Wind gusts estimated to be 60 mph blew a machine shed over and damaged several small outbuildings near Raritan, IL around 630 pm April 4. |
| August 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Raritan | - | A relayed report of some damage to a building on Main Street. Also reported several tree limbs down in town. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Raritan | - | Social media report of trees and tree limbs blown down. |
| February 2017 | Hail | Raritan | - | A citizen reported hail around golf ball size. |
| June 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Raritan | - | Power lines reported blown down. |
| November 2010 | Hail | Raritan | - | A trained spotter estimated hail to penny size and 50 mph winds 1 mile north of Raritan. |
| July 2003 | Funnel Cloud | Raritan | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stronghurst | 5.4 miles | 16 | |
| Media | 5.5 miles | 17 | |
| Decorra | 7.9 miles | 16 | |
| Terre Haute | 8.4 miles | 16 | |
| Olena | 8.6 miles | 17 | |
| Hopper | 10.6 miles | 17 | |
| Biggsville | 11.1 miles | 17 | |
| Iowa Junction | 12.4 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 Raritan | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2669040 | 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 416397. 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.







