Photograph of Petersburg Historic District — Photograph by Matt Turner, CC BY 2.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Petersburg Historic District (Boundary Increase)

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

From the record

“The Petersburg Historic District is a historic district which includes most of Petersburg, Illinois. The district originally included 24 contributing buildings, the Oakland Cemetery, and a survey marker; the Smoot Hotel was later added to the district.”
Wikipedia article Petersburg Historic District (Illinois), CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 6 National Register listings published here for Menard County · listed in 1986 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Address. Smoot Hotel, corner of Sixth and Douglas, Petersburg, 62675
When was it listed? January 1986
Category. building
Precinct. Petersburg East No. 13 precinct
Architectural style. Greek Revival architecture, Renaissance Revival architecture
National Register reference number. 86000138 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

19 since 2013

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 19 fires within 5 miles of Petersburg Historic District (Boundary Increase) between 2013 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	14
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	4
Equipment and vehicle use	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
26 September 2013	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Illinois Division of Forestry Resources	2013-000005
11 September 2013	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Illinois Division of Forestry Resources	2013-000001
10 June 2017	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Illinois Division of Forestry Resources	2017-000132
26 April 2014	Debris and open burning	2.0 acres	Illinois Division of Forestry Resources	14-000060
23 April 2015	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Illinois Division of Forestry Resources	2015-000087
18 April 2014	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Illinois Division of Forestry Resources	14-000051
14 April 2014	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Illinois Division of Forestry Resources	14-000043
12 April 2014	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Illinois Division of Forestry Resources	14-000046

Every fire recorded in Menard County

Mines and quarries near this property

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Petersburg Historic District (Boundary Increase): 2 past producers, 1 occurrence. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Stone, 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.

Site	Commodity	Status
Limestone Prospect	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Occurrence
Menard County Pit	Stone	Past Producer
Petersburg City Pit	Stone	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Menard County

Storms near this property

60 of 69 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Petersburg, the town this property stands in, in 69 storm reports between 1994 and 2023: 36 thunderstorm wind, 28 hail, 3 flash flood, 1 tornado. The reports record 3 injuries. 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
June 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	3 hurt	Thunderstorm winds blew down a beer tent at the county fair. The tent injured 3 people, one seriously. Also, numerous trees, tree limbs, and power lines were blown down countywide.
August 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	$75,000	Trees were blown down countywide, as well as, 11 power poles along Route 29 just north of Athens.One tree fell onto a house and truck just north of Petersburg. No injuries were reported. Thousands of acres of corn were flattened, especially in the northern part of the county. Damage to the crops was estimated around $6 million.
June 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	$50,000	Several trees were blown down in Petersburg.
April 2009	Lightning	Petersburg	$50,000	Lightning struck the water treatment plant in Petersburg. The lightning damaged the automatic control system and security system. There were no injuries and water service was not disrupted.
June 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	$30,000	Several tree branches and power lines were blown down along IL-97 from Petersburg to Oakford.
April 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	$24,000	A three-foot diameter oak tree was blown down. Several other trees and power lines were blown down as well.
June 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	$20,000	Several trees were blown down in Petersburg.
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	$20,000	A 2 to 3-foot diameter tree fell onto a house north of the courthouse in Petersburg. In addition, numerous small branches were blown down around town.
July 2008	Flash Flood	Petersburg	$20,000	A culvert was washed out on Foggy Bottom Avenue 7 miles south of Petersburg.
May 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	$18,000	Multiple tree limbs were blown down and an apple tree was snapped at the base.
May 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	$14,000	A few trees were blown down and roofing was torn off a home.
November 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	$8,000	Several tree limbs were blown down in Petersburg.
June 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	$5,000	A 20-foot ornamental tree was snapped 3 feet above the ground and 4-inch diameter tree branches were blown down over Route 97.
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	$4,000	A large tree limb and power line were blown down.
June 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	$3,000	A large tree and a power line were blown down.
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	$3,000	A tree was blown down.
September 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	$1,000	A large tree limb was blown down in Petersburg just south of the IL-123 and 97 junction.
May 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	-	Several power poles were blown into a field.
October 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	-	Power lines were blown down.
May 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	-	Power lines were blown down in Petersburg.
January 2018	Hail	Petersburg	-	Mostly dime and nickel-sized stones, with a few quarter-sized stones before the hail stopped.
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	-	A large tree was blown down.
June 2008	Flash Flood	Petersburg	-	Water was flowing across numerous county roads between Petersburg and New Salem State Park.
July 2008	Flash Flood	Petersburg	-	Several vehicles were flooded on IL Route 97, one mile south of Petersburg.
April 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	-	Roof partially blown off building.
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	-	Two large trees blown down at New Salem State Park.
August 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	-	A few trees and tree limbs were blown down.
May 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	-	Several large tree limbs were blown down around town.
May 2003	Hail	Petersburg	-	Three quarter inch hail was reported throughout the county with one report of golfball sized hail at the New Salem State Park.
May 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	-	Several trees and tree limbs were blown down.
July 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	-	A large tree was blown over onto a delivery truck causing minor damage. Also, numerous other trees, tree limbs and power lines were blown down.
August 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	-	Small tree limbs were blown down in town.
July 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	-	A large tree was blown down over Illinois Route 97 seven miles south of Petersburg.
June 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	-	Numerous large tree limbs blown down.
August 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	-	Several trees and tree limbs were blown down.
July 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	-	Thunderstorm winds blew down several trees and numerous tree limbs in an area between Petersburg and 3 miles north of Athens. No injuries were reported.
May 1998	Tornado (F0)	Petersburg	-	A tornado briefly touched down in a field 2 miles east of Petersburg. No injuries or damage were reported.
March 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	-	Thunderstorm winds blew down numerous trees along Route 97 two miles south of Petersburg and destroyed a transformer in Athens. No injuries were reported and no damage estimate was available.
July 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	-	Thunderstorm winds blew down numerous power lines, large trees, and tree limbs in Atterberry and Petersburg. Also, a barn was blown apart 3 W of Petersburg.
June 2023	Hail	Petersburg	-	no account filed
May 2021	Hail	Petersburg	-	no account filed
October 2021	Hail	Petersburg	-	no account filed
January 2018	Hail	Petersburg	-	no account filed
June 2015	Hail	Petersburg	-	no account filed
November 2013	Hail	Petersburg	-	no account filed
November 2013	Hail	Petersburg	-	no account filed
May 2011	Hail	Petersburg	-	no account filed
July 2011	Hail	Petersburg	-	no account filed
May 2009	Hail	Petersburg	-	no account filed
May 2009	Hail	Petersburg	-	no account filed
May 2009	Hail	Petersburg	-	no account filed
January 2008	Hail	Petersburg	-	no account filed
July 2008	Hail	Petersburg	-	no account filed
March 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	-	no account filed
April 2006	Hail	Petersburg	-	no account filed
November 2005	Hail	Petersburg	-	no account filed
May 2004	Hail	Petersburg	-	no account filed
June 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Petersburg	-	no account filed
April 2003	Hail	Petersburg	-	no account filed
April 2003	Hail	Petersburg	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Menard County

Map coverage status

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.

Listed places nearby

4 within 8 miles

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.

Property	Distance	Listed
Petersburg Historic District	0.4 miles	1976
Lincoln's New Salem Village	2.2 miles	1972
North Sangamon United Presbyterian Church	6.6 miles	1979
Col. Matthew Rogers Building	7.5 miles	2005

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 86000138 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Menard County	All 6 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
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.