RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Prairie City, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Prairie City and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Prairie City:
    • 40.621025, -90.464905
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Prairie City
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected McDonough County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McDonough County
    • Since Prairie City is near Fulton County and also Warren County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fulton County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Warren County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Prairie City

Communities Also Named Prairie City ...

We found eleven communities that are also named Prairie City.

Within Illinois, the name Prairie City is unique.

Beyond Illinois, we know of eleven communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Sacramento County
      • This Prairie City is located in Sacramento County and lies 1,629 miles [2,621.6 km]<1> to the west of the Prairie City that is located in McDonough County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sacramento County community of Prairie City.
    • Indiana
      • Clay County
      • This Prairie City is located in Clay County and lies 194 miles [312.2 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Prairie City that is located in McDonough County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clay County community of Prairie City.
    • Iowa
      • Jasper County
      • This Prairie City is located in Jasper County and lies 159 miles [255.9 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Prairie City that is located in McDonough County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jasper County community of Prairie City.
    • Kansas
      • Douglas County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Douglas County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Douglas County community of Prairie City.
      • Osage County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Prairie City [Osage County].
      • Shawnee County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Prairie City [Shawnee County].
    • Missouri
      • Bates County
      • This Prairie City is located in Bates County and lies 264 miles [424.9 km]<1> to the southwest of the Prairie City that is located in McDonough County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bates County community of Prairie City.
      • Clay County
      • Although located in Clay County, we don't know the location within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clay County community of Prairie City.
      • Daviess County
      • Although located in Daviess County, we don't know the location within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Daviess County community of Prairie City.
    • Oregon
      • Grant County
      • This Prairie City is located in Grant County and lies 1,453 miles [2,338.4 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Prairie City that is located in McDonough County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Grant County community of Prairie City.
    • South Dakota
      • Perkins County
      • This Prairie City is located in Perkins County and lies 707 miles [1,137.8 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Prairie City that is located in McDonough County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Perkins County community of Prairie City.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Prairie City ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Buckeye
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Buckeye is located in Fulton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buckeye
  • Good Hope
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Greenbush
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Greenbush is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenbush
  • London Mills
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Manley
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Manley is located in Fulton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manley
  • New Philadelphia
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • New Philadelphia is located in McDonough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Philadelphia
  • Pleasant Ridge ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Pleasant Ridge is located in Fulton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Ridge
  • Poverty Ridge
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Poverty Ridge is located in Fulton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poverty Ridge
  • Roseville
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Swan Creek
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Swan Creek is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swan Creek
  • Walnut Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Walnut Grove is located in McDonough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Grove

How Far From Prairie City to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a village such as Prairie City to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Prairie City and extending to:

  • Macomb, which is the Seat of McDonough County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Prairie City to Macomb, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 72 miles [115.9 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 4 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 721 miles [1,160.3 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 41 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,347 miles [10,214.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,088 miles [11,407 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,973 miles [8,003.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Prairie City) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Prairie City, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Prairie City could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<6>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Prairie City to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Prairie City. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.6210, Longitude: -90.4649       In this case, the coordinates for Prairie City have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.312 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.301 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.302 degrees.