Historic Earthquakes

Aurora, Illinois
1909 05 26 14:42 UTC
Magnitude 5.1
Intensity VII

This earthquake has been related to the La Salle anticline in the Illinois Basin. Many chimneys fell, a stove overturned, and gas line connections broke at Aurora, west of Chicago. Several chimneys were downed at Forreston, Naperville, Streator, Triumph, and Troy Grove, and one fell at Waukegan. Brick walls cracked at Bloomington, and sidewalks cracked and many chimneys were damaged at Freeport. At Platteville, Wisconsin, about 130 kilometers northwest of Chicago, and old building was cracked; houses were jostled out of plum at Beloit, Wisconsin, about 240 kilometers northwest of Chicago. Felt from Missouri to Michigan and Minnesota to Indiana.

Abridged from Seismicity of the United States, 1568-1989 (Revised), by Carl W. Stover and Jerry L. Coffman, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1527, United States Government Printing Office, Washington: 1993.