Symerton, Illinois

21 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1999. It stands in Florence Township. It lies in ZIP code area 60481. The Survey maps it on the Symerton quadrangle. 128 people lived here at the 2020 count.

Symerton within Will County

Population over time

2 figures

Symerton grew from 87 to 128 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	87
2020	128	+41 (+47%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 21 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.

1892 USGS Wilmington quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
1918 USGS Wilmington quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
1953 USGS Symerton quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
1954 USGS Wilmington quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
1958 USGS Aurora quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
1961 USGS Aurora quadrangle1:250000
1985 USGS Ottawa quadrangle1:100000
1991 USGS Ottawa quadrangle1:100000
1993 USGS Symerton quadrangle1:24000
1999 USGS Symerton quadrangle1:24000

Fires near this place

20 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 20 fires within 5 miles of Symerton between 2005 and 2020, burning about 39 acres in total. None started naturally. 6 were 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
Equipment and vehicle use	6
Arson/incendiarism	6
Debris and open burning	2
Smoking	2
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	2
Power generation/transmission/distribution	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
26 September 2006	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Midewin National Tall Grass Prairie	ROUTE 53 FIRE
9 July 2005	Equipment and vehicle use	1.5 acres	Midewin National Tall Grass Prairie	WELDER FIRE
15 June 2007	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Midewin National Tall Grass Prairie	GORMAN FIRE
6 April 2008	Debris and open burning	5.0 acres	Midewin National Tall Grass Prairie	OLD CHICAGO FARM FIR
6 April 2005	Smoking	under an acre	Midewin National Tall Grass Prairie	SOUTH ARSENAL FIRE
27 April 2018	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Midewin National Tall Grass Prairie	QUIGLEY ROAD
2 April 2020	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Midewin National Tall Grass Prairie	WAPONSEE
18 April 2010	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Illinois Division of Forestry Resources	1039

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Will County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Symerton: 2 past producers. 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
	Unnamed Limestone Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
	Wilton Township Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Will County

Storms near this place

3 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Symerton in 3 storm reports between 2015 and 2023: 2 tornado, 1 hail. 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
June 2015	Tornado (EF1)	Symerton	$100,000	The tornado touched down approximately 1.4 miles east of Symerton snapping large tree limbs west of Warner Bridge Road. The tornado moved east and downed trees and a power pole along Peotone-Wilmington Road just west of Gougar Road. The tornado turned southeast and impacted a Kennel and an adjacent residence where EF-1 damage was noted due to roof and tree damage. This included multiple snapped or uprooted trees. The tornado moved toward Tully Road and flipped multiple 320 lb grain bins over a garage and into a field across Tully Road. Damage was noted to metal outbuildings. The tornado continued southeast and impacted two farmsteads near Kennedy and Cedar Roads where EF-1 damage occurred to trees and a machine shed. Metal siding and additional debris from the shed was thrown a half mile downstream where the tornado dissipated in a field.
March 2023	Hail	Symerton	-	A report was received of nickel to quarter size hail falling.
July 2023	Tornado (EF0)	Symerton	-	To the east of the tornado that lifted over Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, a second tornado began near South Warner Bridge Road between Wilton Center and West Doyle Roads. Here, several trees were uprooted and numerous large limbs were downed. One tree fell onto a residence, resulting in roof damage. Shingle loss and damage to gutters, siding, fascia, and soffit were all consistent with high-end EF-0 winds near 85 mph. The tornado tracked nearly due east to the north of West Arsenal Road, causing intermittent minor damage to corn and trees. The tornado moved southeast and crossed West Arsenal Road just west of US Route 52. At this point, the tornado was likely less than 15 yards wide with winds around 60 mph. It continued eastward, crossing north of West Joliet Road near Laughton Preserve. The tornado appeared to have continued east a few more miles before dissipating in a field just west of US Route 45.

Every storm recorded in Will 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
Ballou	4.4 miles	21
Winchester Estates	5.1 miles	23
Wilton Center	5.2 miles	13
Wilmington	5.2 miles	23
Riverwood Estates	5.7 miles	23
Ritchie	5.8 miles	21
Lakewood Shores	5.9 miles	23
Ritchie Station	5.9 miles	21

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 Symerton	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2672113	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 419512. 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.