BlockBefore

Sparland, Illinois

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Steuben Township. It lies in ZIP code area 61565. It stands on Thenius Creek. The Survey maps it on the Lacon quadrangle. 366 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 469 feet above sea level.

Sparland within Marshall County

On record in Sparland

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

Population over time

2 figures

Sparland fell from 406 to 366 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
2010406
2020366-40 (-10%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 17 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.

Fires near this place

1 since 2012

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Sparland in 2012, 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/undetermined1

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 March 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined10 acresIllinois Division of Forestry ResourcesWEIGARD

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Marshall County

Mines and quarries near this place

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Sparland: 2 past producers, 1 prospect, 1 occurrence, 1 plant. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay, 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Farmington Shale ExposureClayProspect
Limestone ProspectStone, Crushed/BrokenOccurrence
Lacon Plant & PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPlant
M. Wilson PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Weirs PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Marshall County

Storms near this place

30 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sparland in 30 storm reports between 1996 and 2026: 15 thunderstorm wind, 7 hail, 5 flash flood, 2 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
April 2013Flash FloodSparland$10,000,000Torrential rainfall of 4.00 to 8.00 inches resulted in damage to about 2,000 houses and businesses in the county, including several in the cities of Henry and Lacon. Every creek and stream in the county was flooded. Every road in the county was impassable, and several water rescues were made. Numerous roads and culverts were damaged by the flash flooding.
June 2015Thunderstorm WindSparland$75,000Ten to fifteen power poles were blown down at Yankee Lane and County Road 800 North just northwest of Sparland.
August 2015Thunderstorm WindSparland$10,000The roof of a small pole barn was blown off about 2 miles west of Sparland.
August 2009Thunderstorm WindSparland$8,000Several tree limbs were blown down in Hopewell.
March 2026Tornado (EF0)Sparland-Video evidence from an Illinois River barge operator showed a tornado touched down west of the Illinois River about 3 miles north of Sparland at 8:01 PM CDT. The tornado crossed the Illinois River and tracked eastward, damaging numerous trees north of Lake Wildwood before dissipating just east of IL-89 and south of Sandy Creek at 8:18 PM CDT.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindSparland-Five trees were blown down in Hopewell, one of which was blown onto a house.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindSparland-Report from mPING, trees uprooted or snapped.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindSparland-Several trees were blown down, including one that fell onto a house.
July 2021Flash FloodSparland-Illinois Route 17 was closed between Lacon and Sparland due to water flowing across the road.
July 2021Flash FloodSparland-A culvert was washed out on Illinois Route 29 near Sparland, which swept a vehicle off the road. No injuries were reported.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindSparland-An 8-inch diameter tree was blown down.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindSparland-A tree was blown down onto Route 29 just south of Sparland.
April 2013FloodSparland-Torrential rainfall of 4.00 to 8.00 inches resulted in damage to about 2,000 houses and businesses in the county, including several in the cities of Henry and Lacon. Every creek and stream in the county was flooded. Every road in the county was impassable, and several water rescues were made. Numerous roads and culverts were damaged by the flash flooding. The flash flooding was so significant that creeks stayed in flood and most roads remained closed until the afternoon of April 22nd.
September 2012Tornado (EF0)Sparland-A tornado briefly touched down on the Illinois River about 1.6 miles south-southeast of Hopewell in Marshall County at 12:32 PM CDT. The tornado dissipated at 12:33 PM CDT. No damage was reported.
April 2006Thunderstorm WindSparland-Numerous power poles blown down.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindSparland-A large tree was blown down.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindSparland-Numerous tree limbs blown down.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindSparland-Several sheds and grain bins were damaged.
June 2001Flash FloodSparland-Illinois Route 29, 4 miles north of Sparland, was closed when water was "radiator deep on a car".
June 1998Thunderstorm WindSparland-Thunderstorm winds blew down several trees, numerous tree limbs, and damaged a grain elevator. No injuries were reported and no damage estimate was available.
March 1998Thunderstorm WindSparland-Thunderstorm winds blew down numerous power lines and power poles in Sparland and Henry. No injuries were reported and no damage estimate was available.
August 2022HailSparland-no account filed
June 2015HailSparland-no account filed
April 2015HailSparland-no account filed
May 2012HailSparland-no account filed
March 2006HailSparland-no account filed
April 2006HailSparland-no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindSparland-no account filed
June 1996Flash FloodSparland-no account filed
June 1996HailSparland-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Marshall 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
Lacon1.5 miles17
Hopewell3.2 miles19
Henry7.2 miles17
Wilbern8.3 miles18
Saratoga Center10.0 miles11
Lawn Ridge10.8 miles21
Camp Grove10.9 miles12
La Rose11.2 miles11

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 SparlandAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2289138The 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 418878. 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.