Union Grove, Illinois

18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Union Grove Township. It lies in ZIP code area 61270. The Survey maps it on the Union Grove quadrangle. It stands 689 feet above sea level.

Union Grove within Whiteside County

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 18 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.

1891 USGS Clinton quadrangle1:62500
1894 USGS Clinton quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
1899 USGS Clinton quadrangle1:125000
1899 USGS Cordova quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
1952 USGS Clinton quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
1958 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
1961 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000
1962 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000
1984 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
1985 USGS Union Grove quadrangle1:24000

In the county-history sources

2,986 words on this township

Portrait and Biographical Album of Whiteside County, Illinois : Containing Full-page Portraits and Biographies of All the Governors of Illinois, and of the Presidents of the United States, published 1885 names this settlement in its chapter on Union Grove Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

The first settler in the territory now embraced by Union Grove Township was Joshua T. Atkinson, who was born in Massachusetts in 1810. He first came to Whiteside County in the fall of 1834, settling in Prophetstown, and occupying a cabin with J. W. Stakes. The following spring he and Stakes made claims in what was then Union Grove Precinct, on both sides of Rock Creek, and commenced their improvements. These claims were made in what is now Union Grove and Mount Pleasant Townships, and were situated in the northern portions. They afterwards divided their interests, Atkinson taking the west side and Stakes the east. He had put up a cabin, which was the first built in the township. It was located where Unionville now is, sections i and 12. Along in the spring (1836) Daniel B. Young came in. He was born Sept. 16, 1800, in New Jersey. He went from there to Ohio, and from Ohio he came to Union Grove. He remained for a while, looking around, and finally purchased Mr. Atkinson's claim on section i, which consisted of 640 acres of land with improvements. After making some further preparations, he returned to Ohio for his family. In the fall he came back, bringing his family, and settled down on his purchase. The following

Passage source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Whiteside County, Illinois : Containing Full-page Portraits and Biographies of All the Governors of Illinois, and of the Presidents of the United States, published 1885.

Mr. Young married Betsey Jackson in 1824. They came to Union Grove with seven children. Five children were born to them in Union Grove. All are living except two, Tryphena and Abigail. Mrs. Young died Jan. 13, 1872. Mr. Young sold his farm to H. M. Teller, and is now living in Morrison. John Richards and family came in 1836, locating on section 34. He came around the lakes. The vessel in which they took passage was wrecked and they lost all their money and most of their goods, and came very nearly being drowned. Mr. Richards died several years ago, but his wife is still living.

Benj. Burns and John A. Robertson came in 1837 and commenced the erection of a saw-mill on the ground now occupied by William Annan's flouring mill. This mill was of great assistance to the early settlers in furnishing them with lumber to build their houses, and for other purposes. Henry Ustick, Elisha Hubbart, John A. King, John Kent and M. L. Atkinson came in and made claims in 1838. Henry Boyer settled on the Mt. Pleasant site in 1836, where he lived until 1840, when he moved to Union Grove. The start having been made, the settlement increased quite rapidly.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Union Grove Township - it names this place 6 more 6 times.

Mines and quarries near this place

9 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Union Grove: 5 past producers, 2 occurrences, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, 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.

Site	Commodity	Status
J. Dykstra Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Acker-Fulton Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Limestone Prospect	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Occurrence
Limestone Prospect	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Occurrence
Morrison Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
S Aker Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Unnamed Limestone Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
Unnamed Ls Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
Whiteside County Highway Department	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Whiteside County

Storms near this place

2 since 2018

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Union Grove in 2 storm reports between 2018 and 2026: 2 thunderstorm wind. 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
August 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Union Grove	-	A NWS Storm Survey found five power poles down at this location. Four of them were leaning and one appeared to be snapped near the base. Corn in a field next to power poles was also damaged. Wind speeds were estimated to be between 80 and 90 MPH. Time of the event was estimated using the radar.
April 2026	Thunderstorm Wind	Union Grove	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Whiteside 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
Unionville	2.5 miles	11
Oliver	3.2 miles	18
Morrison	3.7 miles	11
Ustick	3.9 miles	11
Spring Valley	4.9 miles	18
Garden Plain	6.0 miles	19
Little Oklahoma	6.8 miles	19
Fenton	7.2 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 Union Grove	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q20710691	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 420071. 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.

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.