Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
“Battery Rock is a limestone bluff located at Mile 860 of the Ohio River in Hardin County, Illinois, across from Caseyville, Kentucky. The bluff is a prominent navigational landmark along the river.”
Wikipedia article Battery Rock, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 4 National Register listings published here for Hardin County · listed in 1998 · category: Site.
Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 17 fires within 5 miles of Battery Rock between 1994 and 2019, burning about 140 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5 |
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 3 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 July 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Shawnee National Forest | PINE |
| 3 May 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 3.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | DEKOVEN ROAD |
| 3 April 2014 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Shawnee National Forest | TUCKER HILL |
| 17 April 1996 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Shawnee National Forest | PENNELL |
| 28 March 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 28 March 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 24 March 2015 | Other causes | under an acre | Shawnee National Forest | LAMB |
| 23 March 2014 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 2.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | RT.365 |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Battery Rock: 4 producers, 3 past producers, 1 prospect. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Fluorine-Fluorite, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Germanium, Lead, Silver, Gallium, Cadmium, Barium-Barite. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caseyville-Dekoven Road Outcrop | Silica | Prospect | ||
| Minerva No. 1 Mine | Fluorine-Fluorite, Germanium, Lead, Silver, Gallium, Cadmium, Barium-Barite | Producer | ||
| Union Sand Inc. | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Cave In Rock Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Rigsby & Barnard Quarry & Mill | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Hill Ledford Mine | Fluorine-Fluorite | Past Producer | ||
| Hill-Ledford Mine | Fluorine-Fluorite | Past Producer | 1948, 1973, 1982 | |
| Minerva No. 1 Mine | Fluorine-Fluorite | Producer | Fluorite, Sphalerite |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Cave-in-Rock, the town this property stands in, in 20 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 8 flood, 5 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 2 heavy rain. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2011 | Flood | Cave In Rock | $150,000 | Major flooding continued on the Ohio River from April. Based on data from river gages in nearby Pope and Gallatin Counties, the flood crest of 2011 was two to three feet higher than the 1997 flood. This was still 6 to 9 feet lower than the record crest set in 1937. The activation of the New Madrid Floodway by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spared Hardin County from an even higher crest that would have inundated even larger areas of the county. With the detonation of the Mississippi River levee at Birds Point, Missouri, the Ohio River stopped rising or rose much more slowly. At least a few riverfront homes in Elizabethtown were flooded up to two feet deep. A few homes in Cave-In-Rock were flooded, and much of the rest of the community was sandbagged. Portions of Illinois Route 1 were closed. A section of Highway 146 was sandbagged to keep it open. A couple of churches were sandbagged in Cave-In-Rock and Elizabethtown. The oldest Baptist church in Illinois sustained flooding damage in Elizabethtown. The National Guard was activated to assist with sandbagging. Flood gates were installed at Rosiclare. Parks and other recreational facilities outside of the levee protection system were flooded. County schools were closed. The ferry from Cave-In-Rock to Crittenden County, KY was shut down. |
| March 2018 | Flood | Cave In Rock | $70,000 | Moderate flooding continued on the Ohio River from late February. This flood crest was about a foot lower than the March, 1997 flood. Isolated evacuations of some lowland residents were conducted. Cabins at a campground at Saline Landing were flooded, and Front Street was flooded in Elizabethtown. There was sandbagging around homes in Elizabethtown and Cave-In-Rock. Several mobile homes and trailers in Hardin County were pulled away from the water. At Rosiclare, Illinois Route 146 was closed leading into town, and water was up about 5 feet along the floodgates. The ferry connecting Cave-In-Rock with the state of Kentucky was shut down because of flooded roads on the Kentucky side. |
| May 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cave In Rock | $50,000 | A few dozen trees were blown down. Roads in the Cave-In-Rock State Park were blocked. At the intersection of Highways 146 and 1, a country store was heavily damaged. The front porch was destroyed, and the roof was damaged by a falling tree. The roof was blown off the porch of a nearby house. On Highway 1, a carport was blown away. |
| March 2008 | Flood | Cave In Rock | $50,000 | In Rosiclare, several basements were flooded. Sandbagging was done around a few structures, including the only grocery store in the county. Some secondary roads were flooded and closed. |
| June 1998 | Hail | Cave In Rock | $40,000 | Large hail fell, measuring up to 2 inches in diameter at Elizabethtown. The hail shredded some gardens and likely dented vehicles. |
| February 2019 | Flood | Cave In Rock | $20,000 | Moderate flooding of the Ohio River occurred. A portion of Illinois Route 1 was closed. There was considerable flooding of low-lying woods and fields. Rural county roads were flooded. A campground at Saline Landing was flooded, and Front Street was flooded in Elizabethtown. There was sandbagging around a few homes in Elizabethtown and Cave-In-Rock. At Rosiclare, Illinois Route 146 was closed leading into town, and water was up along a floodgate. The town of Rosiclare put up the first floodgates in the lowest sections of town. However, little or no property damage occurred in Hardin County. The ferry from Cave-In-Rock to the Kentucky shore suspended operations due to high water. |
| March 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cave In Rock | $15,000 | A roof was blown off a house. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cave In Rock | $5,000 | Trees and power lines were down along Highway 1. |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cave In Rock | $5,000 | Trees were blown down, blocking a few roads, including Illinois Routes 1 and 146. |
| August 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cave In Rock | $1,000 | A couple of tree limbs were down. One of the limbs outside the city of Cave-In-Rock was large enough to require a backhoe to move. |
| May 2024 | Flash Flood | Cave In Rock | - | An mPING report was made for flooding on IL 1 north of Cave-in-Rock. with a public call reporting water flowing across roads near Cave-in-Rock. Radar estimated rainfall totals for the afternoon of the 8th were 1.5-2.5 inches for Cave-in-Rock and a peak of 2.5-3.5 inches further north in the county, most of which fell between 1445-1600CST. |
| February 2018 | Flash Flood | Cave In Rock | - | Water rescues were conducted in the county. Thunderstorms produced rainfall rates that were estimated near one-half inch per hour on ground that received 3 to 4 inches of rain in the past week. |
| February 2018 | Flood | Cave In Rock | - | The Ohio River rose above flood stage around mid-month and continued rising the rest of the month. Low-lying county roads were closed. Bottomland woods and fields were inundated. |
| July 2015 | Heavy Rain | Cave In Rock | - | A few roads were covered with a few inches of water. |
| October 2000 | Tornado (F0) | Cave In Rock | - | A brief tornado touchdown was observed along Route 1, 4 to 5 miles north of the community of Cave-In-Rock. Due to the very remote nature of the area, within the Shawnee National Forest, no damage could be confirmed. The parent thunderstorm displayed very strong tornadic characteristics on radar. |
| January 2019 | Flood | Cave In Rock | - | no account filed |
| January 2019 | Flood | Cave In Rock | - | no account filed |
| December 2011 | Flood | Cave In Rock | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Heavy Rain | Cave In Rock | - | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Hail | Cave In Rock | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Cave-In-Rock | 6.1 miles | 1998 |
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 98001257 in Record Group 79. |
| Wikipedia article | Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA. |
| Hardin County | All 4 listed properties in this county. |
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