BlockWatson, Illinois
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1950 and the latest in 1998. It stands in Watson Township. It lies in ZIP code area 62473. The Survey maps it on the Effingham South quadrangle. 668 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 561 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresWatson fell from 754 to 668 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 | 754 | |
| 2020 | 668 | -86 (-11%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 15 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.
- 1950 USGS Effingham quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1951 USGS Effingham quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Decatur quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1961 USGS Decatur quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS Effingham South quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Effingham quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1998 USGS Effingham South quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
3 since 2020Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of Watson in 2020, burning about 24 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 April 2020 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 2020-060 |
| 3 December 2020 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 2020202 |
| 3 December 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 2020173 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Watson: 1 prospect, 1 occurrence. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Clay, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Limestone Prospect | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence | ||
| Wabash Shale Exposure | Clay | Prospect |
Storms near this place
15 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Watson in 15 storm reports between 1995 and 2026: 12 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 1 hail. The reports record 1 injury. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2026 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watson | 1 hurt | Thunderstorm winds contributed to a multi-vehicle accident on I-57 southwest of Watson, resulting in one indirect injury. |
| February 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watson | $25,000 | A small utility shed roof and porch roof were blown off. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watson | $3,000 | A large tree limb was blown down along US-45, taking down a power line. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watson | $2,000 | A tree was blown down across IL Route 37 1 mile east of Watson. |
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watson | $1,000 | A 7-inch diameter tree branch was blown down in Watson. |
| April 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watson | - | A large tree branch was broken. |
| August 2023 | Flash Flood | Watson | - | US-45 was flooded south of Watson near Salt Creek. |
| February 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watson | - | A clothes line and part of a metal fence were blown down on Sierra Avenue in Watson. A carport was blown across the street on Old Watson Road. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watson | - | Several tree limbs were blown down near the I-57 exit. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watson | - | A large tree was blown across train tracks, stopping rail traffic. |
| May 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watson | - | Several trees were bent and hanging over the road at Route 37. |
| June 2010 | Flash Flood | Watson | - | A second area of flash flooding, in southeast Effingham County, occurred during the late afternoon and early evening. Rainfall rates of about 1.50 per hour for nearly two hours resulted in impassable rural roads south of Dieterich and east of Watson. |
| May 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watson | - | Several power lines were blown down around town. |
| June 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watson | - | Wind gusts were estimated at 58 mph and bent over many smaller trees. |
| February 1999 | Hail | Watson | - | no account filed |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heartville | 2.2 miles | 15 | |
| Ewington | 5.5 miles | 15 | |
| Funkhouser | 5.5 miles | 15 | |
| Mason | 5.7 miles | 9 | |
| Flemingsburg (historical) | 6.4 miles | 9 | |
| Elliottstown | 6.4 miles | 11 | |
| Keptown | 6.5 miles | 15 | |
| Effingham | 6.7 miles | 15 |
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 Watson | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2347018 | 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 420642. 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.