BlockBefore

Waltham, Illinois

20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1993. It stands in Waltham Township. It lies in ZIP code area 61373. The Survey maps it on the Troy Grove quadrangle. It stands 692 feet above sea level.

Waltham within LaSalle County

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 20 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.

In the county-history sources

490 words on this township

History of LaSalle County, Illinois : Its Topography, Geology, Botany, Natural History, History of the Mound Builders, Indian Tribes, French Explorations, and a Sketch of the Pioneer Settlers of Each Town to 1840, with an Appendix, Giving the Present Status of the County, Its Population, Resources, Manufactures and Institutions, published 1877 names this settlement in its chapter on Waltham Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Thomas Burnham settled in the extreme sonthwest corner in 1834, Some others came in that locality in 1834, but the firston Waltham Ridge was Joncsand others, in 1838, and it peopled slowly till after 1850, when it filled up rapidly in common with all the prairie towns, The principal part of the town is high, rolling and desirable land, and is mostly coyered with first class improvements. The town has no railroad, but it has 2 good and convenient market at Utica and La Salle, sending its products to market by cheap canal transportation. There is a French settlement of considerable numbers in the northeast part of the town, and anumber of Scotch in the northwest. Several of the early settlers on Waltham Ridge were from Waltham, Mass, hence thename.

Passage source: History of LaSalle County, Illinois : Its Topography, Geology, Botany, Natural History, History of the Mound Builders, Indian Tribes, French Explorations, and a Sketch of the Pioneer Settlers of Each Town to 1840, with an Appendix, Giving the Present Status of the County, Its Population, Resources, Manufactures and Institutions, published 1877.

Thomas Burnham, and wife, Olimena Clark, of Granby, Mass., came from Lisbon, Ct, and settled on the Illinois bottom, opposite Rockwell, in July, 1833. The family were all sick. David Letts moved them to Cedar Point, where they made a claim. In September, 1834, he sold to Lewis Waldoand moved on to 8. 30, T. 34, R. 2, now the town of Waltham. He filled the offices of Justice of the Peace und County Commissioner for several years. He died in May, 1845. He and his wife and aged father were buried on the farm, but have been removed to Oakwood Cemetery, La Salle, and a sister has placed a stone to their memory. Mr. Burnham was the first settler ; erected the first dwelling, broke the first prairie, and raised the first crop in the town of Waltham. He left two sons: John, the first male child,

Passage source: History of LaSalle County, Illinois : Its Topography, Geology, Botany, Natural History, History of the Mound Builders, Indian Tribes, French Explorations, and a Sketch of the Pioneer Settlers of Each Town to 1840, with an Appendix, Giving the Present Status of the County, Its Population, Resources, Manufactures and Institutions, published 1877.

Massachusetts; settled on 8. 4, in 1838. He went East to be married in 1840, and was accidentally shot. George Nye, from Plaintield, Connecticut, one of the Rockwell colony; settled on 8. 4, in 1840 ; died 1865. His widow now lives in Homer. One son in Towa, and one daughter, the wife of William Dana, is in Waltham.

Passage source: History of LaSalle County, Illinois : Its Topography, Geology, Botany, Natural History, History of the Mound Builders, Indian Tribes, French Explorations, and a Sketch of the Pioneer Settlers of Each Town to 1840, with an Appendix, Giving the Present Status of the County, Its Population, Resources, Manufactures and Institutions, published 1877.

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 Waltham Township - it names this place 2 more 2 times.

Fires near this place

13 since 2013

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 13 fires within 5 miles of Waltham between 2013 and 2017, burning about 52 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 burning6
Missing data/not specified/undetermined5
Smoking1
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
26 September 2017Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry Resources17-271
5 May 2014Debris and open burningunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry Resources14-0000062
15 May 2013Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry Resources13-0000049
13 May 2013Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry Resources13-0000047
3 April 2013Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry Resources13-0000027
11 April 2014Debris and open burning40 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources14-0000047
28 March 2013Debris and open burningunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry Resources13-0000024
22 March 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry Resources17-065

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in LaSalle County

Mines and quarries near this place

6 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Waltham: 3 past producers, 2 producers, 1 plant. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Silica. 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
Manley Bros. Troy Grove PitSilicaPlant
Prairie State Plant & QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Troy Grove Plant & QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
C. Baker PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Koob PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Wetherby PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

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
Troy Grove4.5 miles20
Triumph4.6 miles20
Prairie Center4.7 miles25
Tomahawk Bluff5.3 miles20
Dimmick5.6 miles20
Utica6.4 miles21
Culton (historical)6.7 miles20
Freedom Centre (historical)7.7 miles25

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 WalthamAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7966587The 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 423284. 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.