BlockStarks, Illinois
17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1925 and the latest in 1992. It stands in Rutland Township. It lies in ZIP code area 60140. The Survey maps it on the Pingree Grove quadrangle.
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 17 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.
- 1925 USGS Elgin quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1940 USGS Elgin quadrangle1:62500
- 1954 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000
- 1955 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1962 USGS Elgin quadrangle1:62500
- 1962 USGS Pingree Grove quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1963 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000
- 1981 USGS Elgin quadrangle1:100000
- 1992 USGS Pingree Grove quadrangle1:24000
In the county-history sources
689 words on this townshipHistory of Kane County, Ill., published 1908 names this settlement in its chapter on Rutland Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
The township of Rutland was named after Rutland. \'ermont. by E. R. Starks. who arrived in the township in 1835. and was the first settler. He came from Rutland, Vermont. At that time the township was uninhabited e.xcept for a few Indians. Starks spent the winter at Naperville, but returned to his claim the next spring. He was soon after joined by Elijah Rich, who took up a claim adjoining his. The two men built a log cabin for Starks. which was the first ever erected in the township, and there kept house. They lived there during the summer. The next year, 1836, Mr. Rich sent for his family, with whom he lived on his claim until his death in 1871,
Passage source: History of Kane County, Ill., published 1908.
They boarded with Starks and Rich wiien they first arrived. In 1838 Andrew McCornack arrived with his family. He died in 1875 at the age of ninety years. In 1838 Wilham Moore and William Lynch, who were brothers-inlaw, located in the western part of the township. A man named Seymour was living near there at that time. Francis and Straw Pingree came in the fall of 1837, and in the spring of 1838 Andrew and Daniel Pingree arrived. The grove near their settlement acquired the name "Pingree Grove," and has since been known by that name. A considerable village has grown up there in the last thirty years. Andrew Pingree was a minister of the gospel, and a native of New Hampshire. In 1838 there were but three cabins along the road. John Hunter was a native of Ireland and came to America in 183.^ and settled in Rutland township in 1842. He was an enthusiastic republican and a leader of the strong Irish Presbyterian sentiment in the township.
Passage source: History of Kane County, Ill., published 1908.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Fires near this place
3 since 2003Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of Starks in 2003, burning about 105 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 |
|---|---|
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 April 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
| 14 April 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 acres | Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
| 26 March 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 acres | Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
6 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Starks in 6 storm reports between 2008 and 2022: 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 1 flash flood. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Starks | - | Trees were blown down at the intersection of Route 47 and Plank Road. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Starks | - | A large tree was blown down partially blocking Route 47 approximately 1.5 miles south of Route 20. Other small tree limbs were blown down. |
| June 2018 | Flash Flood | Starks | - | Six to seven inches of flowing water was reported across Route 47 at Plank Road. Impassible standing water was reported on portions of Route 47, west of Pingree Grove. A nearby rainfall of 2.83 inches was reported 0.7 miles west of Sleepy Hollow. |
| March 2011 | Hail | Starks | - | Hail to the size of pennies was reported near Burlington and Romke Roads. |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Starks | - | A wind gust to 66 mph was measured near Route 20 and Route 47. |
| June 2008 | Hail | Starks | - | Nickel size hail was reported near Route 20 and Route 47. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Allens Corners | 1.5 miles | 17 | |
| North Plato | 2.3 miles | 17 | |
| Pingree Grove | 2.7 miles | 17 | |
| Henpeck | 2.7 miles | 17 | |
| Salina | 3.5 miles | 17 | |
| Hampshire | 4.0 miles | 13 | |
| McQueen | 4.2 miles | 17 | |
| Freeman | 4.4 miles | 17 |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 423204. 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.
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.