Roscoe, Illinois

19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1918 and the latest in 1993. It stands in Roscoe Township. It lies in ZIP code area 61073. It stands on South Kinnikinnick Creek. The Survey maps it on the South Beloit quadrangle. 10,983 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 738 feet above sea level.

Roscoe within Winnebago County

On record in Roscoe

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 1 record

Chicago & North Western Railway Stone Arch Bridgelisted 1993

Population over time

2 figures

Roscoe grew from 10,785 to 10,983 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	10,785
2020	10,983	+198 (+2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 19 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.

1918 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
1938 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
1954 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000
1955 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000
1958 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
1959 USGS South Beloit quadrangle1:24000
1963 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000
1971 USGS South Beloit quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
1981 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
1993 USGS South Beloit quadrangle1:24000

In the county-history sources

2,611 words on this township

The History of Winnebago County, Illinois : Its Past and Present, Containing ... a Biographical Directory of Its Citizens, War Record of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion, General and Local Statistics ... History of the Northwest, History of Illinois ... Etc, published 1877 names this settlement in its chapter on Roscoe Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Roscoe is the northeast township of the county, bounded on the north by the Wisconsin State line. The first permanent settlement was made in the fall of 1835, but some Indian traders had previously erected and occupied cabins in the grove on Section 32. The remains of the cabins and the track made by the wagon train that accompanied General Atkins in his campaign against the Black Hawk Indians in June, 1832, were still clearly defined when the first settlers came. The maple trees also showed that the Indians had tapped them for sugar- making purposes. August 3, 1835, R. J. Cross, of Coldwater, Mich., and Colonel Yon Hovenburg, with a Pottawatomie Indian for a guide, came into the township from Milwaukee. Col. Yon Hovenburg returned to Michigan; Mr. Cross bought a claim of Lavec, an employee of Stephen Mack, upon which he subsequently settled. This claim was covered by the grove in the southwest quarter of Section 32.

Passage source: The History of Winnebago County, Illinois : Its Past and Present, Containing ... a Biographical Directory of Its Citizens, War Record of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion, General and Local Statistics ... History of the Northwest, History of Illinois ... Etc, published 1877.

In September of the same year, Elijah H. Brown, James B. Lee and Wilham Mead came in from La Porte County, Indiana, and selected clainas. Brown built a house on the left bank of Rock river, a little above the mouth of the north branch of the Kinikinick, on the northeast quarter of Section 32, which was the first house built in what subsequently became Koscoe township. In the winter of 1835-6, Messrs. Brown, Lee, Cross and Logan were the only settlers in that part of the county. Mr. Cross had the only horse team in the settlement, and it was kept on the road nearly all the time when the roads were passable, hauling flour and groceries from Chicago. Mr. Reynolds, of Rolling Prairie, La Porte Count}'^, Indiana, bought Lee's claim, and was the first blacksmith to forge and hammer in that precinct, and in the winter of 1836-7 there were only eight families. Until a postoffice was established at Beloit, the settlers got their mail matter at Chicago; but in the spring of 1837, a post-office was established at Ruscoe, and R. M. P. Abell was appointed post-master. In 1887, Henry Abell and his son, Franklin, built a saw-mill, the first in the neighborhood. This mill was built at the mouth of the north branch of the Kinikinick, where they proposed to build a village, which they named Roscoe, in honor of Roscoe, aji eminent English historian, and when the names of townships were established in 1850, the name was given to the municipality. Under the new order, the first town meeting was held at the house of James K. Knowland, April 1, 1850. J. G. Prentiss was chosen Moderator; John J. Rhodes was elected Supervisor, and Nathaniel Howland, Town Clerk. Mr. Rhodes was continued in office for seven years, and until his death. At the first town meeting or election, 180 votes were polled.

Church Notes. - September, 1836, at a meeting at the house of Smith Jenks, Rev. Mr. Pillsbury, a traveling missionary, of the M. E. Church, took the names of those who wished to unite as a church society. They were: Plenry Abell, Smith Jenks, Clarissa Jenks, B.Richardson, Mary Ann Richardson, Albert Tuttle and Simeon Pettibone and wife. These were organized into a class, and for many years it was the only church society known to the settlers. It subsequently grew into prominence and wealth, as it had always been influential for good.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Roscoe Township - it names this place 24 more 24 times.

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 26 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 26 workings within 5 miles of Roscoe: 20 past producers, 5 producers, 1 plant. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
Anderson Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Black Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Can-Tex Industries Aggregate Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Cooling Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Durgon Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Ed Truman Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
Ellis Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Foss Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
General Dynamics Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Genestra Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Winnebago County

Storms near this place

24 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Roscoe in 24 storm reports between 2003 and 2024: 10 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail, 4 flood, 2 heavy rain. 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
June 2008	Flood	Roscoe	$6,000,000	no account filed
July 2010	Lightning	Roscoe	$50,000	Lightning struck an underground gas line on Wild Deer Trail and a second underground gas line on Huntsboro Lane. Lightning also struck a home on Pin Oak causing a fire to start in the garage.
March 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Roscoe	$50,000	Extensive tree damage was reported in Roscoe. The roof of one home was damaged, as well as a fence. A second home sustained roof and siding damage. Power lines were also blown down.
June 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Roscoe	$10,000	A few trees were uprooted and a branch fell through a home.
May 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Roscoe	$5,000	Estimated 60 mph wind gusts in the town of Roscoe downed tree branches, bent a Dairy Queen flagpole in half, and caused damage at the Roscoe Fire Department including their training facility.
July 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Roscoe	-	Tree damage was reported near Roscoe.
July 2022	Heavy Rain	Roscoe	-	A private weather station measured 3.01 inches of rain in just over one and half hours.
August 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Roscoe	-	A large tree was uprooted.
November 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Roscoe	-	Wind gusts were estimated to 70 mph. Numerous large tree limbs were blown down.
November 2020	Hail	Roscoe	-	Multiple reports of quarter size hail were received from the Roscoe area.
September 2018	Flood	Roscoe	-	A park was reported flooded in Roscoe.
June 2018	Heavy Rain	Roscoe	-	Rainfall of 1.50 inches was measured in one hour.
May 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Roscoe	-	Multiple large trees were uprooted.
August 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Roscoe	-	Several trees were blown down in Roscoe.
April 2008	Flood	Roscoe	-	One to two feet of standing water was reported at Edgemere Terrace.
July 2007	Flash Flood	Roscoe	-	East Rock Road closed due to flooding.
July 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Roscoe	-	Large tree limb blown down.
April 2023	Hail	Roscoe	-	no account filed
April 2013	Hail	Roscoe	-	no account filed
November 2013	Hail	Roscoe	-	no account filed
January 2008	Hail	Roscoe	-	no account filed
July 2008	Flood	Roscoe	-	no account filed
June 2004	Hail	Roscoe	-	no account filed
July 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Roscoe	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Winnebago 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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Morehaven	1.1 miles	19
Riverdale	1.2 miles	19
Stagecoach Hills	1.6 miles	14
Phil-Aire Estates	2.1 miles	19
Hutchins Park	3.8 miles	19
Latham Park	4.2 miles	20
Rockton	4.3 miles	19
Machesney Park	4.8 miles	20

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 Roscoe	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q139639	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 424453. 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.

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.