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Wilton Center, Illinois

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1949 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Wilton Township. It lies in ZIP code area 60442. The Survey maps it on the Wilton Center quadrangle.

Wilton Center within Will County

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 13 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

235 words on this township

History of Will County Illinois, published 1878 names this settlement in its chapter on Wilton Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Wilton Center was platted, originally, in 1860; but, subsequently, the plat was taken up and a new plat made in 1876. The plat consists of about forty acres, of which Jabez Harvey is principal proprietor. Its history is not greatly dissimilar, as to success, to its little rival at the other end of the grove. It contains two general stores, two wagon-shops, two churches, and dwellings and other buildings in proportion. The population is about one hundred and fifty.

Passage source: History of Will County Illinois, published 1878.

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 Wilton Township.

Fires near this place

9 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 9 fires within 5 miles of Wilton Center between 2006 and 2020, burning about 7 acres in total. None started naturally. 3 were 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
Arson/incendiarism3
Missing data/not specified/undetermined3
Equipment and vehicle use2
Debris and open burning1

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
15 May 2017Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources1700428
2 April 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMidewin National Tall Grass PrairieWAPONSEE
18 April 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry Resources1039
11 April 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry Resources12-244
10 April 2018Arson/incendiarism1.3 acresMidewin National Tall Grass PrairieSYMERTON
26 February 2019Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMidewin National Tall Grass PrairieARSENAL
21 December 2017Arson/incendiarism3.0 acresMidewin National Tall Grass PrairieWAPAUONSEE
8 October 2006Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMidewin National Tall Grass PrairieBALE FIRE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Will County

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 Wilton Center: 2 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Unnamed Limestone QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Wilton Township QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Will County

Storms near this place

4 since 2007

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Wilton Center in 4 storm reports between 2007 and 2025: 4 thunderstorm wind. 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
May 2007Thunderstorm WindWilton Center$1,000Trees and power lines were blown down.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindWilton Center-A private weather station measured a wind gust to 64 mph.
August 2022Thunderstorm WindWilton Center-Multiple tree limbs 5 to 6 inches in diameter were blown down.
April 2022Thunderstorm WindWilton Center-Photos shared on social media showed a semi truck blown over, northward on Wilmington Road, west of Route 45.

Every storm recorded in Will 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
Wallingford1.6 miles13
Wilton2.4 miles16
Andres4.3 miles13
Century East5.1 miles16
Manhattan5.1 miles16
Symerton5.2 miles21
Elwood8.8 miles22
Ballou9.1 miles21

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 421310. 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.