RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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The Commemorative
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The Commemorative Quarter for Illinois







Outdoor Activities ...

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

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

  • 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 Pratt:
    • 41.691141, -89.997339
    • 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.
    • The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Pratt
  • 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:
    • Waymark.com

Communities Also Named Pratt ...

We found sixteen communities that share the name Pratt.

Within Illinois, the name Pratt is unique.

Beyond Illinois, we know of another sixteen communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these sixteen communities, fourteen are located in the United States and two are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arizona
      • Maricopa County
      • This community is historic<1> and although located in Maricopa County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Maricopa County community of Pratt.
    • Arkansas
      • Clay County
      • This Pratt is located in Clay County and lies 373 miles [600.3 km]<2> to the south of the Pratt that is located in Whiteside County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clay County community of Pratt.
    • British Columbia
      • This Pratt lies 1,652 miles [2,658.6 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Pratt that is located in Whiteside County.
    • Kansas
      • Pratt County
      • This Pratt is located in Pratt County and lies 541 miles [870.7 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Pratt that is located in Whiteside County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pratt County community of Pratt.
    • Kentucky
      • Webster County
      • This Pratt is located in Webster County and lies 309 miles [497.3 km]<2> to the south southeast of the Pratt that is located in Whiteside County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Webster County community of Pratt.
    • Louisiana
      • Bienville Parish
      • This Pratt is located in Bienville Parish and lies 656 miles [1,055.7 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Pratt that is located in Whiteside County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bienville Parish community of Pratt.
    • Manitoba
      • This Pratt lies 704 miles [1,133 km]<2> to the northwest of the Pratt that is located in Whiteside County.
    • Maryland
      • Allegany County
      • This Pratt is located in Allegany County and lies 616 miles [991.4 km]<2> to the east of the Pratt that is located in Whiteside County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allegany County community of Pratt.
    • Minnesota
      • Steele County
      • This Pratt is located in Steele County and lies 226 miles [363.7 km]<2> to the northwest of the Pratt that is located in Whiteside County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Steele County community of Pratt.
    • Missouri
      • Ripley County
      • This Pratt is located in Ripley County and lies 359 miles [577.8 km]<2> to the south of the Pratt that is located in Whiteside County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ripley County community of Pratt.
    • New Hampshire
      • Hillsborough County
      • This Pratt is located in Hillsborough County and lies 933 miles [1,501.5 km]<2> to the east of the Pratt that is located in Whiteside County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of Pratt.
    • New Mexico
      • Hidalgo County
      • This community is historic<1> and although located in Hidalgo County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hidalgo County community of Pratt.
    • New York
      • Kings 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 New York community of Pratt [Kings County].
    • Washington
      • Spokane 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 Washington community of Pratt [Spokane County].
    • West Virginia
      • Kanawha County
      • This Pratt is located in Kanawha County and lies 515 miles [828.8 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Pratt that is located in Whiteside County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kanawha County community of Pratt.
      • Roane 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 West Virginia community of Pratt [Roane County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Pratt ...

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.

  • Erie
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Erie have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erie
    • Erie is located in Whiteside County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,482 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Erie <5>
  • Garden Plain
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Garden Plain have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden Plain
    • Garden Plain is located in Whiteside County
  • Leon Corners
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Leon Corners have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leon Corners
    • Leon Corners is located in Whiteside County
  • Mineral Springs ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mineral Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mineral Springs
    • Mineral Springs is located in Whiteside County
  • Oliver
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oliver have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oliver
    • Oliver is located in Whiteside County
  • Prophetstown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Round Grove
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Round Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Round Grove
    • Round Grove is located in Whiteside County
  • Union Grove
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Grove
    • Union Grove is located in Whiteside County
  • Unionville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Unionville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Unionville
    • Unionville is located in Whiteside County

How Far From Pratt 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 community such as Pratt to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic community of Pratt once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Pratt and extending to:

  • Morrison, which is the Seat of Whiteside County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 132 miles [212.4 km]<2> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Pratt to Springfield, with an average speed<6>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 708 miles [1,139.4 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 28 days and walking would take 41 days.
  • The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,277 miles [10,101.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,020 miles [11,297.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,907 miles [7,897.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>

The official website for Whiteside County: www.whiteside.org/

The official website for State of Illinois: https://illinois.gov

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Pratt, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Pratt) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Pratt. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.6911, Longitude: -89.9973       In this case, the coordinates for Pratt have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Pratt 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>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<5>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<6>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.
<7>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 Pratt to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.016 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.109 degrees.
<10>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.796 degrees.









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 21 Apr 2025