BlockBefore

Waterman, Illinois

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1934 and the latest in 1994. It stands in Clinton Township. It lies in ZIP code area 60556. The Survey maps it on the Waterman quadrangle. 1,433 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 860 feet above sea level.

Waterman within DeKalb County

Population over time

2 figures

Waterman fell from 1,506 to 1,433 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.

YearPeople Change
20101,506
20201,433-73 (-5%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 10 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

5,003 words on this township

Portrait and Biographical Album of DeKalb County, Illinois : Containing Full-page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the County : Together with Portraits and Biographies of All the Governors of Illinois, and of the Presidents of the United States : Also Containing a History of the County, from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, published 1885 names this settlement in its chapter on Clinton Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Englishman by the name of C. H. Duck stayed with him, with the intention of making this grove his home. He made an excavation into the bank, at the northwest end of the grove, lined it up with split logs (the remains of which can be seen by the visitor to-day) ; this hut constituted the second habitation built by white men in this town. Dr. C. H. Duck, as he was called, soon got tired of his claim, deserted it and went to Chicago, where he now resides.

Passage source: Portrait and Biographical Album of DeKalb County, Illinois : Containing Full-page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the County : Together with Portraits and Biographies of All the Governors of Illinois, and of the Presidents of the United States : Also Containing a History of the County, from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, published 1885.

Among the earliest settlers after Mr. Johnson, were W. B. Fields, Parker Thomas, Alexander McNish, Silas Mines, John and James Walker, Preston Curtiss, William Robertson, C. B. Whitford, Shelburne J. and Tracy Scott, Felix and Baldwin Woodruff, Sylvester Hall, N. S. and Thomas J. Greenwood, Benjamin Matteson, William Sherman, Sylvester and Elbert Hall, J. L. Bailey, J. L. Mighell, Aruney Hill, John Secor.

Passage source: Portrait and Biographical Album of DeKalb County, Illinois : Containing Full-page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the County : Together with Portraits and Biographies of All the Governors of Illinois, and of the Presidents of the United States : Also Containing a History of the County, from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, published 1885.

Clinton, as a civil township, was organized in 1850. At that time it included much more territory, bat was reduced to its present dimensions in 1853. The name was applied to the township from the fact a number of the settlers were from Clinton, New York, and were attached to the name.

Passage source: Portrait and Biographical Album of DeKalb County, Illinois : Containing Full-page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the County : Together with Portraits and Biographies of All the Governors of Illinois, and of the Presidents of the United States : Also Containing a History of the County, from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, published 1885.

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 Clinton Township - it names this place 13 more 13 times.

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 Waterman: 2 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: 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.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Clinton PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Weidner PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in DeKalb County

Storms near this place

26 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Waterman in 26 storm reports between 2003 and 2024: 15 thunderstorm wind, 7 hail, 2 tornado, 1 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
September 2006Thunderstorm WindWaterman$200,000Six, 75 foot tall power transmission poles were blown down and several trees were also blown down. Corn fields were flattened by wind.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindWaterman$15,000Winds estimated to 70 mph caused several trees to snap. One large oak tree fell onto a house and car, but damage to property was minimal. The press box at DeKalb High School was blown over. The building was secured by pilings set in concrete, which were pulled out of the ground. Power lines were downed near Normal Road and 10th Street. A tree limb fell onto a home and damaged the gas meter. Portions of a corn field were flattened in Waterman.
September 2006Thunderstorm WindWaterman$10,000A tree was blown down onto a car. Numerous tree limbs also blown down.
February 2024Tornado (EFU)Waterman-High resolution satellite imagery showed a ground swirl pattern in a field beginning near Miller Road and IL-23 northeast of Waterman. The tornado moved through a field to the southeast, then turned to the east as it crossed Crego Road. The tornado lifted just east of Crego Road. Because this tornado did not impact any buildings or trees, no intensity estimates could be made, and thus, this tornado was assigned an EF-U rating.
April 2023Thunderstorm WindWaterman-Power lines were blown down along Pine Street.
April 2023Thunderstorm WindWaterman-Four to five utility poles were leaning across the road at Route 23 and Preserve Road.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindWaterman-A photo shared on social media showed a large tree limb 6 to 10 inches in diameter snapped off a tree.
August 2021Thunderstorm WindWaterman-Siding was ripped off the side of a building in Waterman.
May 2011Flash FloodWaterman-Water was reported flowing over multiple locations on Route 23, southeast of Waterman.
November 2010HailWaterman-Hail was estimated between quarter and golf ball size.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindWaterman-Large tree limbs were blown down with one limb on a power line.
February 2008FloodWaterman-A creek was reported out of its banks between Waterman and Hinckley with 19 acres of a farm field flooded.
August 2008Thunderstorm WindWaterman-Numerous trees were blown down.
May 2007Thunderstorm WindWaterman-Tree limbs were blown off an Oak tree.
September 2006Thunderstorm WindWaterman-Several trees were blown down.
September 2006Thunderstorm WindWaterman-A tree was blown down near Miller and Waterman Roads.
May 2004Thunderstorm WindWaterman-A semi tractor-trailer was blown off the road at the intersection of Miller Road and Route 23.
May 2004Tornado (F0)Waterman-The tornado touched down in a rural area and no significant damage was reported.
April 2023HailWaterman-no account filed
August 2022HailWaterman-no account filed
May 2019HailWaterman-no account filed
July 2016HailWaterman-no account filed
June 2015HailWaterman-no account filed
August 2014HailWaterman-no account filed
August 2012Thunderstorm WindWaterman-no account filed
May 2003Thunderstorm WindWaterman-no account filed

Every storm recorded in DeKalb 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.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
McGirr3.5 miles10
Shabbona Grove5.1 miles9
Afton Center5.3 miles10
Shabbona5.5 miles9
Elva6.4 miles10
Franks6.5 miles9
Hinckley7.0 miles8
Rollo9.0 miles8

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 WatermanAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2438897The 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 422137. 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.