Willow Lake, Illinois
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1939 and the latest in 1998. It stands in Harlem Township. It lies in ZIP code area 61032. It stands on Preston Creek. The Survey maps it on the Freeport West quadrangle.
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 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.
- 1939 USGS Freeport quadrangle1:62500
- 1939 USGS Freeport quadrangle1:48000
- 1944 USGS Freeport quadrangle1:62500
- 1954 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000
- 1955 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1963 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS Freeport West quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1981 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1998 USGS Freeport West quadrangle1:24000
In the county-history sources
11,298 words on this townshipThe History of Stephenson County, Illinois : Containing ... Biographical Sketches ... War Record ... Statistics ... Portraits of Early Settlers ... History of the Northwest, History of Illinois, &c. .., published 1880; History of Stephenson County, Illinois : a Record of Its Settlement, Organization, and Three-quarters of a Century of Progress, published 1910 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for smaller places. Its township is covered in full.
The chapter on Harlem Township covers the township.
Read the chapter on Harlem Township - 11,298 words.
Fires near this place
16 since 2010Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 16 fires within 5 miles of Willow Lake between 2010 and 2017, burning about 17 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 | 7 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6 |
| Smoking | 3 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 May 2013 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 13-0000039 |
| 14 May 2013 | Debris and open burning | 4.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 13-0000038 |
| 7 April 2014 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 14-0000028 |
| 27 April 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 1031 |
| 22 April 2014 | Debris and open burning | 4.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 14-0000039 |
| 15 April 2016 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 16-0000025 |
| 11 April 2014 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 14-0000033 |
| 1 April 2010 | Smoking | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 1024 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 20 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 20 workings within 5 miles of Willow Lake: 17 past producers, 3 producers. 3 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.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freeport Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Duth Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Dwyer Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Economy Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Freeport City Eng. | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| H. Homan Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Jaeger Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Mills Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Limestone Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Limestone Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past 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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Junction | 1.7 miles | 15 | |
| Scioto Mills | 2.4 miles | 15 | |
| Freeport | 2.6 miles | 15 | |
| Cedarville | 3.0 miles | 13 | |
| Red Oak | 4.5 miles | 13 | |
| Damascus | 4.6 miles | 15 | |
| Winneshiek | 5.8 miles | 15 | |
| Buckhorn Corners | 6.3 miles | 13 |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 2806585. 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.









