BlockVan Petten, Illinois
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1949 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Harmon Township. It lies in ZIP code area 61071. The Survey maps it on the Harmon quadrangle. It stands 656 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 12 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.
- 1949 USGS Walnut quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Aurora quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1961 USGS Aurora quadrangle1:250000
- 1982 USGS Harmon quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1985 USGS Dixon quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
In the county-history sources
8,638 words on this townshipHistory of Lee County, Together with Biographical Matter, Statistics, Etc. .., published 1881; History of Lee County, Illinois, published 1914 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for smaller places. Its township is covered in full.
The chapter on Harmon Township covers the township.
Read the chapter on Harmon Township - 8,638 words.
Fires near this place
3 since 2019Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of Van Petten in 2019, burning about 2 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 April 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 19-322 |
| 31 March 2019 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 19-294 |
| 23 March 2019 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 19-274 |
Storms near this place
2 since 2015Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Van Petten in 2 storm reports between 2015 and 2020: 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2020 | Tornado (EFU) | Van Petten | - | Video and photos were shared of a brief landspout tornado that occurred in an open field. No damage was reported. |
| June 2015 | Tornado (EF0) | Van Petten | - | This is a continuation of a tornado that began in Whiteside County (NWS Quad Cities). The tornado crossed the county line and did no additional damage. (Tornado 1 of 10). |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harmon | 3.8 miles | 12 | |
| Nelson | 6.5 miles | 11 | |
| Woodland Shores | 8.3 miles | 11 | |
| Prairieville | 9.5 miles | 11 | |
| Walton | 9.8 miles | 10 | |
| Palmyra | 10.4 miles | 11 | |
| Lincoln Heights | 11.8 miles | 11 | |
| Dixon | 12.0 miles | 12 |
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 Van Petten | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q14688153 | 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 423272. 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.