Shelburn, Illinois

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1951 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Amboy Township. It lies in ZIP code area 61310. The Survey maps it on the Amboy quadrangle. The federal gazetteer marks this settlement historical: it is no longer a populated place, though the surveys that recorded it still are.

Shelburn within Lee County

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 10 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.

1951 USGS Amboy quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
1958 USGS Aurora quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
1961 USGS Aurora quadrangle1:250000
1982 USGS Amboy quadrangle1:24000
1985 USGS Dixon quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings

In the county-history sources

51,232 words on this township

History of Lee County, published 1881 names this settlement in its chapter on Amboy Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

In the autumn of 1861 the city erected a two-story building in the business row on the south side of Main street for a council room, and a hall for an engine company, when such an oi'ganization as the latter should be formed. In October, 1870, a cell built of solid masonry was put into the building, and in the great fire the following year a prisoner confined over night for a trifling oftense was literally roasted alive, a cruel because unnecessary tragedy, occurring by reason of the criminal thoughtlessness of the officer. This hall was immediately rebuilt. On the first floor is the engine room and calaboose, and on the second the council meets. This body first occupied the new building Friday evening, February 2, 1872.

Passage source: History of Lee County, published 1881.

In the winter of 1854-5 the post-offices were discontinued at Shelburn and Binghamton, and one was established at Amboy, with Orange D. Reed as postmaster. He held the office until the spring of 1861, when R. H. Mellen was appointed under the administration of President Lincoln, and has been in possession since.

Passage source: History of Lee County, published 1881.

It would be hard to find a place which has passed through greater trials by fire than the city of Amboy ; and with perhaps a single exception the larger ones are regarded as incendiary. The first on the site was before the town was surveyed, and was the boarding-house kept for the railroad company by Charles W. Bell, already noted elsewhere. The second was the dwelling-house of D. A. Thomas, destroyed Saturday, August 22, 1857. We shall omit the few barns and private houses burned subsequent to this date, and record only those conflagrations in which public or business property has suffered. The first Catholic church, so nearly completed that the plastering had been done, was accidentally burned December 3, 1857.

Passage source: History of Lee County, published 1881.

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 Amboy Township - it names this place 4 more 4 times.

Fires near this place

17 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 17 fires within 5 miles of Shelburn (historical) between 2008 and 2017, burning about 175 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	12
Debris and open burning	4
Power generation/transmission/distribution	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
30 September 2010	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Illinois Division of Forestry Resources	10228
6 May 2008	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Illinois Division of Forestry Resources	HULL
7 April 2013	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Illinois Division of Forestry Resources	13-81
7 April 2008	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	2.0 acres	Illinois Division of Forestry Resources	AMBOY
22 April 2014	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	52 acres	Illinois Division of Forestry Resources	14-103
17 April 2016	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Illinois Division of Forestry Resources	2016-63561
16 April 2008	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Illinois Division of Forestry Resources	ROAD
14 April 2016	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Illinois Division of Forestry Resources	2016-6349

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Lee County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Shelburn (historical): 2 past producers, 2 producers. 2 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.

Site	Commodity	Status
Robbin's Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Sheely's Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Unnamed Limestone Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
Unnamed Limestone Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Lee 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
Amboy	1.5 miles	10
Binghampton	2.7 miles	10
Maytown	4.9 miles	10
Walton	5.0 miles	10
Lee Center	5.0 miles	10
Shaws	6.0 miles	10
Eldena	6.1 miles	12
Inlet	6.2 miles	10

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1816587. 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.