Smithton, Illinois
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1912 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Smithton Township. It lies in ZIP code area 62285. It stands on Douglas Creek. The Survey maps it on the Freeburg quadrangle. 4,006 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 476 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresSmithton grew from 3,693 to 4,006 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 | 3,693 | |
| 2020 | 4,006 | +313 (+8%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 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.
- 1912 USGS New Athens quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Freeburg quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1954 USGS New Athens quadrangle1:62500
- 1958 USGS Belleville quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1962 USGS Belleville quadrangle1:250000
- 1985 USGS Pinckneyville quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1990 USGS Freeburg quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
2 since 2011Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Smithton between 2011 and 2014, burning about 10 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 | 1 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 May 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | STATE1 |
| 3 April 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 10 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | RITTER |
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 Smithton: 1 occurrence. None of them still produces. 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.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Limestone Prospect | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
15 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Smithton in 15 storm reports between 1993 and 2023: 9 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Smithton | $10,000 | A local television station reported large tree limbs and power lines down in Smithton. |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Smithton | - | Thunderstorm winds blew down numerous large tree limbs and power lines in Smithton, New Athens, Lenzburg and Marissa. |
| July 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Smithton | - | Thunderstorm winds blew down several trees and power lines around town. |
| August 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Smithton | - | Several large tree limbs were blown down just south of Smithton. One vehicle sustained moderate damage from a fallen tree limb. |
| July 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Smithton | - | A large elm tree was broken near the base and fell across a street in Smithton. Two cars parked on the street were damaged by large limbs. |
| May 1995 | Hail | Smithton | - | Along with large hail, wind gusts to 60 miles an hour were reported. |
| May 1995 | Hail | Smithton | - | Golf ball-size hail was reported in Smithton along with minor roof damage and trees snapped off in Freeburg. |
| May 1993 | Hail | Smithton | - | Ham radio operators reported one inch diameter hail in Smithton. Flash flooding was also reported along Highway 159 south of Belleville. The St.Clair EOC reported one inch diameter hail near Athens. |
| April 2014 | Hail | Smithton | - | no account filed |
| April 2011 | Hail | Smithton | - | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Hail | Smithton | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Smithton | - | no account filed |
| April 1998 | Tornado (F0) | Smithton | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Smithton | - | no account filed |
| July 1996 | Hail | Smithton | - | 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.
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 Smithton | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2668902 | 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 426534. 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.






