Rice, Illinois
18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1911 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Rice Township. It lies in ZIP code area 61036. It stands on Mud Slough. The Survey maps it on the Bellevue quadrangle.
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 18 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.
- 1911 USGS Galena quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1913 USGS Galena quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1959 USGS Dubuque quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Dubuque quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Dubuque quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1968 USGS Bellevue quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1976 USGS Dubuque quadrangle1:250000
- 1984 USGS Dubuque South quadrangle1:100000, 4 printings
In the county-history sources
1,028 words on this townshipThe History of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, Etc., a Biographical Directory of Its Citizens, War Record of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion ... History of the Northwest, History of Illinois ... Constitution of the United States, published 1878 names this settlement in its chapter on Rice Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
JAMES, Farmer; Sec. 12; P. O. Galena ; owns 350 acres of land ; was born in Philadelphia, Pa., Dec. 29, 1830; moved to this Co. with his parents in 1834; on the 2d of Feb., 1859, he married Miss Jane Funston, in Town of Rice; she was born in Ireland Nov. 1, 1839 ; Mr. Ginn was elected Supervisor of this Tp. last Spring (1877) and is the present incumbent of that office; he has held the office of Sheriff of Jo Daviess Co. two years ; was also Deputy Sheriff two years ; in 1861 he enlisted in Co. H, 3d Mo. V. I. ; served as a Sergeant; was honorably discharged at St. Louis, Mo., Nov. 2, 1864 ; he has been in many severe engagements, among them being the battles of Vicksburg, Atlanta, and a series of battles around each one ot those places; his father (Johnson Ginn) came to this Co. in 1834, thus becoming one of the pioneers of the Northwest, resides in Galena.
Passage source: The History of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, Etc., a Biographical Directory of Its Citizens, War Record of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion ... History of the Northwest, History of Illinois ... Constitution of the United States, published 1878.
VIRTUE WILLIAM I. Farmer; Sec. 13; P. O. Galena; owns 200 acres of land ; was born in Galena, in this Co., on Sept. 25, 1841 ; in 1861, when the dark clouds of war overshadowed our land and armed hands threatened the dissolution of the union of our fathers, he answered his country's call and enlisted in Co. A, 96th Regt. 1. V. I., in which Regt. he served three years ; he was honorably discharged ; was in every engagement with the enemy that his Regt. was; he was promoted Corporal in 1863 ; was married to Miss Martha Campbell in this town (Rice) on March 7, 1867 ; she was born in Galena in 1842 ; they have six children: viz.: Adam Howard, Feb. 14, 1868; Mary Jane, April 14, 1870; Margaret Eliza, Nov. 11, 1871; Anna G., July 11, 1873; David Samuel, Jan. 9, 1876 ; Sarah Rebecca, Nov. 12, 1877.
Passage source: The History of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, Etc., a Biographical Directory of Its Citizens, War Record of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion ... History of the Northwest, History of Illinois ... Constitution of the United States, published 1878.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Fires near this place
6 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 6 fires within 5 miles of Rice between 1996 and 2014, burning about 14 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 | 3 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 April 1996 | Debris and open burning | 1.8 acres | Savanna District, Upper Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge | PLUMRIVER |
| 17 April 2002 | Debris and open burning | 1.1 acres | Savanna District, Upper Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge | BROWNS LK |
| 12 April 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 9.0 acres | Savanna District, Upper Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge | GREEN ISLA |
| 25 March 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 23 March 2014 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | FIRST |
| 30 October 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 2.0 acres | Savanna District, Upper Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge | NSANTAFE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 59 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 59 workings within 5 miles of Rice: 39 past producers, 8 occurrences, 5 prospects, 4 unknowns. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Lead, Zinc, Lead, Zinc, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blackjack Mine | Zinc, Lead | Past Producer | 1854, 1952 | |
| Gray Mine | Zinc, Cadmium | Unknown | 1926, 1944, 1949 | |
| Bellevue Pit & Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Kueter Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Bellevue Sand and Gravel Co. Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Boyd Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Franks Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Limestone Prospect | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence | ||
| Limestone Prospect | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence | ||
| Limestone Prospect | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
3 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rice in 3 storm reports between 2008 and 2026: 3 hail. 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 2008 | Hail | Rice | - | Trained spotter measured penny size hail near Rice. |
| May 2008 | Hail | Rice | - | Nickel-sized hail fell heavily just east of the Chestnut Mountain Ski Resort around 8:36 pm on May 31. |
| April 2026 | Hail | Rice | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aiken | 1.4 miles | 18 | |
| Winston | 1.7 miles | 18 | |
| Galena Junction | 3.5 miles | 18 | |
| Rodden | 4.0 miles | 18 | |
| Bremen | 4.4 miles | 19 | |
| Portage | 4.5 miles | 19 | |
| Blanding | 4.5 miles | 18 | |
| Gears Ferry | 5.1 miles | 19 |
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.
| Wikidata item Q60756393 | 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 423111. 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.







