Shirley, Illinois
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1949 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Dale Township. It lies in ZIP code area 61772. The Survey maps it on the Bloomington West quadrangle. 135 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 764 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 13 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.
- 1949 USGS Mc Lean quadrangle1:62500
- 1951 USGS McLean quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Peoria quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1961 USGS Peoria quadrangle1:250000
- 1963 USGS Peoria quadrangle1:250000
- 1981 USGS Bloomington West quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Lincoln quadrangle1:100000
- 1989 USGS Lincoln quadrangle1:100000
- 1990 USGS Peoria quadrangle1:250000
In the county-history sources
6,240 words on this townshipThe Good Old Times in McLean County, Illinois : Containing Two Hundred and Sixty-one Sketches of Old Settlers, a Complete Historical Sketch of the Black Hawk War and Descriptions of All Matters of Interest Relating to McLean County, published 1874 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for smaller places. Its township is covered in full.
The chapter on Dale Township covers the township.
Read the chapter on Dale Township - 6,240 words.
Fires near this place
2 since 2013Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Shirley in 2013, 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 April 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | TALASKI |
| 18 February 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | HOUGHAM |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
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 Shirley: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: 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.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Probasco Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
20 since 2003Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Shirley in 20 storm reports between 2003 and 2025: 9 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 2 flash flood, 1 lightning. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shirley | $35,000 | Houses were damaged in Covell. |
| June 2009 | Lightning | Shirley | $30,000 | Lightning struck a home between Bloomington and Shirley during the early morning hours of June 18th. The lightning ignited a fire in the top floor of the house. There were no injuries. |
| March 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shirley | $25,000 | Shingle damage occurred to 4 homes. Two fence sections were toppled and a stop sign was blown down. |
| May 2023 | Flash Flood | Shirley | $1,000 | The Stringtown Road underpass below the railroad was flooded. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shirley | - | A large tree branch was broken at the corner of Fedor Circle and Six Points Road. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shirley | - | A large tree branch was broken off along Fox Creek Road. |
| May 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shirley | - | Several large tree limbs were blown down. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shirley | - | Numerous small tree limbs were blown down and shingles were damaged on a few homes. |
| May 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shirley | - | Numerous tree branches were blown down. |
| May 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shirley | - | Three large tree branches were blown down. |
| May 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shirley | - | Numerous tree limbs were blown down. |
| June 2015 | Flash Flood | Shirley | - | Thunderstorms produced very heavy rain of 4.00 to 5.00 in one hour in southwest McLean County. Extensive street and basement flooding was reported in Heyworth, for the second time in one week, where 5.00 of rain was reported. Rural roads were also flooded from Shirley to McLean to Heyworth. |
| May 2025 | Hail | Shirley | - | no account filed |
| May 2025 | Hail | Shirley | - | no account filed |
| May 2025 | Hail | Shirley | - | no account filed |
| May 2025 | Hail | Shirley | - | no account filed |
| June 2013 | Hail | Shirley | - | no account filed |
| February 2011 | Hail | Shirley | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Shirley | - | no account filed |
| April 2003 | Hail | Shirley | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Covell | 3.5 miles | 13 | |
| Funks Grove | 4.1 miles | 13 | |
| Burns | 4.5 miles | 14 | |
| Hendrix | 4.6 miles | 14 | |
| Randolph | 4.9 miles | 14 | |
| Bloomington Heights | 5.3 miles | 13 | |
| Twin Grove | 6.0 miles | 13 | |
| Bloomington | 6.4 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 Shirley | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7498663 | 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 418437. 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.








