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Rockdale, Illinois

23 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1998. It stands in Joliet Township. It lies in ZIP code area 60436. It stands on Sugar Run. The Survey maps it on the Joliet quadrangle. 2,012 people lived here at the 2020 count.

Rockdale within Will County

On record in Rockdale

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 within a mile 1 record

The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.

Population over time

2 figures

Rockdale grew from 1,976 to 2,012 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
20101,976
20202,012+36 (+2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 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

16,216 words on this township

The History of Will County, Illinois, Containing a History of the County ... a Directory of Its Real Estate Owners; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; General and Local Statistics ... History of Illinois ... History of the Northwest .., published 1878 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for smaller places. Its township is covered in full.

The chapter on Joliet Township covers the township.

Read the chapter on Joliet Township - 16,216 words.

Fires near this place

2 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Rockdale between 2008 and 2018, burning about 32 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 burning1
Railroad operations and maintenance1

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
15 August 2008Debris and open burning6.5 acresMidewin National Tall Grass PrairieMILLSDALE FIRE
20 March 2018Railroad operations and maintenance25 acresMidewin National Tall Grass PrairieDRUMMOND

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Will County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 15 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 15 workings within 5 miles of Rockdale: 10 past producers, 3 producers, 1 plant, 1 occurrence. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Magnesite. 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
U S Refactories Div. MillMagnesiteProducer
Joliet Phos-Acid PlantPhosphorus-PhosphatesPlant
Joliet Phosphoric Acid PlantPhosphorus-PhosphatesPast Producer
Gross & Mc Cowan Lumber Co. QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Inland Crushed Stone Co QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Joliet Quarry & Mill Yard 340Stone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Limestone ProspectStone, Crushed/BrokenOccurrence
Lincoln Stone QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Markgraf Stone Company QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
National Stone Co Limestone QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Will County

Storms near this place

3 since 2021

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rockdale in 3 storm reports between 2021 and 2026: 1 flood, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
March 2026HailRockdale-A photo showed several large hail stones at Moen Avenue and Midland Avenue. The largest were golf ball size.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindRockdale-Wind gusts were estimated to 60 mph. Tree limbs were blown down and power was lost.
August 2021FloodRockdale-A photo shared on social media showed several inches of standing water on Route 6 at the intersection with Hollywood Road.

Every storm recorded in Will 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
Idylside1.0 miles23
Fairway Estates2.0 miles23
Preston Heights2.0 miles22
Joliet2.2 miles23
Springwood South2.2 miles23
Old Kent2.5 miles23
Sayles Manor2.5 miles23
Northfield2.7 miles23

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 RockdaleAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2195083The 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 416842. 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.