Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
“The Caldwell Farmstead is a historic farmhouse located on Illinois Route 4 north of Chatham, Sangamon County, Illinois. The two-story Towered Italianate house was built in 1876.”
Wikipedia article Caldwell Farmstead, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 68 National Register listings published here for Sangamon County · listed in 1984 · category: Building.
Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
The chapter on Curran Township in History of Sangamon County, Illinois; Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages and Townships ... Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Representative Citizens. History of Illinois, published 1881 names Chatham. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.
The early settlers, as a general thing, looked well to the educational interests of their children. A settlement was no sooner founded with children enough to form a school, than a teacher was employed. The first schools attended by children from this township, were over the line in Chatham. A school house was erected on section thirty-two, just before the deep snow, which is supposed by the old settlers of to-day to be the first in the township.
Passage source: History of Sangamon County, Illinois; Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages and Townships ... Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Representative Citizens. History of Illinois, published 1881.
John Caldwell, the second son, was born January 21, 1807, in Kentucky, and came to Carrollton, Illinois, in 1827. He was there married, January 23, 1834, to Mary J. Davis, likewise a native of Kentucky, who was born near Danville, in that State, January 16, 1816. Five children was the result of this union; William C, Jane, Betsy, Henry C, and Ben. F., three of whom are now dead - Jane, Betsy, and Henry C. John Caldwell and family came to Sangamon county in April 1853, and located on the farm purchased by his father some years previous, on section thirty-six, Curran township, one and a half miles from the village of Chatham, and eight miles from Springfield. This farm Mr. Caldwell further improved, and here died after a painful illness, August 1, 1863. His widow and youngest son, yet reside upon the farm. Mrs. Caldwell when a young lady took a journey that few in this year, 1881, w^ould care to take. She Tode on horseback from Danville, Kentucky, to Tallahasse, Florida, returned the same way, and after a short stay, continued on to Carrollton, Illinois, a distance of about two thousand miles.
Passage source: History of Sangamon County, Illinois; Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages and Townships ... Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Representative Citizens. History of Illinois, published 1881.
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 Curran Township - 8,409 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Caldwell Farmstead: 1 occurrence. 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Limestone Prospect | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Chatham, the town this property stands in, in 81 storm reports between 1998 and 2026: 41 hail, 36 thunderstorm wind, 3 tornado, 1 lightning. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2019 | Lightning | Chatham | $100,000 | A barn was struck by lightning and burned down. |
| April 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | $45,000 | Several trees and power lines were blown down. One house suffered roof damage. |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | $25,000 | Numerous trees, large tree limbs, and power lines were blown down. Measured gust was reported at Springfield airport. |
| July 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | $15,000 | Power lines were blown down east of Chatham. |
| May 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | $10,000 | Five to eight trees were snapped. |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | $5,000 | Several large tree branches were blown down. |
| May 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | $5,000 | A large cottonwood tree was blown down onto power lines, resulting in a four hour power outage. |
| June 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | $3,000 | Two 1.5 to 2-foot diameter trees were blown down. One of the trees fell onto a fence. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | $2,000 | An 8-inch diameter tree was snapped at the base. |
| August 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | $2,000 | A large section of a Bradford Pear tree was broken off due to high winds. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | $2,000 | A tree was blown down in Chatham. |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | $1,000 | A large tree was blown down. |
| March 2026 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | Powerlines were blown down. |
| May 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | Several small tree branches were blown down. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | A large tree was blown down and blocked a subdivision road. |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | Numerous large tree limbs were blown down. |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | Numerous large trees were blown down across southern Sangamon County, mainly south of I-72. |
| December 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | Power lines were blown down near Route 4 and Cottonwood Drive south of Walgreens. |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | A 1.5-foot diameter tree limb was blown down on Lakewood Drive near Sugar Creek Stables. |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | Several large tree branches were blown down. |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | A large tree was blown down in Bridgeview Park. |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | A few tree limbs were snapped and shingles were blown off a roof. |
| June 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | Several large tree limbs were blown down onto a road. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | A 4-inch diameter tree limb was blown onto power lines. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | A power line was blown down on the 400 block of Main Street. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | Numerous trees were blown down on the Piper Glen Golf Course just north of Chatham. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | The bleachers, goal posts, and fence at a school were damaged. A tree was also blown down in town. |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | A large tree branch was snapped off. |
| July 2008 | Hail | Chatham | - | Nickel sized hail was reported one mile north of Chatham. |
| April 2006 | Tornado (F1) | Chatham | - | The tornado removed roofing material from several new construction homes. |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | A tree was blown down. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | Numerous trees and power lines blown down. Also, some minor house damage was reported in Chatham and a Ham radio tower was blown down in Rochester. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | Several trees and a sign blown down at a middle school. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | Few trees and power lines blown down. |
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | Several trees were blown down. |
| August 2004 | Tornado (F0) | Chatham | - | A tornado briefly touched down in a field. No damage or injuries were reported. |
| May 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | A large tree was snapped off, siding blown off of two houses and a basketball post was bent in half. |
| May 2003 | Tornado (F0) | Chatham | - | A tornado briefly touched down west of Chatham. Several trees were blown down and a few homes sustained siding damage. Also, an unoccupied semi was blown over. |
| May 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | In Chatham, thunderstorm winds blew a 50 foot by 50 foot section of a metal roof off of a storage facility. Also, on the south side of Springfield a large tree was blown down and another one was uprooted. |
| April 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | Several trees were blown down. |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chatham | - | Thunderstorm winds blew down a large tree 3 miles east of Chatham. |
| February 2026 | Hail | Chatham | - | no account filed |
| April 2025 | Hail | Chatham | - | no account filed |
| May 2023 | Hail | Chatham | - | no account filed |
| May 2023 | Hail | Chatham | - | no account filed |
| May 2023 | Hail | Chatham | - | no account filed |
| May 2023 | Hail | Chatham | - | no account filed |
| May 2023 | Hail | Chatham | - | no account filed |
| May 2023 | Hail | Chatham | - | no account filed |
| May 2023 | Hail | Chatham | - | no account filed |
| May 2023 | Hail | Chatham | - | no account filed |
| May 2023 | Hail | Chatham | - | no account filed |
| May 2023 | Hail | Chatham | - | no account filed |
| May 2023 | Hail | Chatham | - | no account filed |
| May 2023 | Hail | Chatham | - | no account filed |
| May 2023 | Hail | Chatham | - | no account filed |
| May 2023 | Hail | Chatham | - | no account filed |
| May 2023 | Hail | Chatham | - | no account filed |
| July 2023 | Hail | Chatham | - | no account filed |
| July 2023 | Hail | Chatham | - | no account filed |
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Route 66 South of Lake Springfield | 4.4 miles | 2009 | |
| Route 66 South of Lake Springfield | 4.9 miles | 2009 | |
 | Sugar Creek Covered Bridge | 4.9 miles | 1978 |
 | Strawbridge-Shepherd House | 4.9 miles | 2015 |
 | Alvin S. Keys House | 5.6 miles | 1994 |
 | Hugh M. Garvey House | 5.7 miles | 2009 |
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 84001145 in Record Group 79. |
| Wikipedia article | Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA. |
| Sangamon County | All 68 listed properties in this county. |
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