Hamburg, Illinois
village in Calhoun County, Illinois, United States
Hamburg is a village in Hamburg Precinct, Calhoun County, Illinois, United States. The population was 99 at the 2020 census, down from 128 at the 2010 census.
History
One hundred lots in the town of Hamburg were offered for sale by John Shaw in 1836. Once a thriving river community where apples were loaded and shipped, banks were busy and profitable, stores were laden with goods and shoppers, Hamburg now sits along and sometimes in the waters of the Mississippi. The only public facility is the Hamburg Post Office.
A bluff monument overlooks the village, indicating the burial of riverboat Captain Swarnes who wished to be buried upright to command a panoramic view of the river. National Geographic, September 1975; pages 308 and 309, published a picture of the Delta Queen heading up the Mississippi river past Hamburg, using Captain Swarnes' monument as the photographer's vantage point.
Geography
According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Hamburg has a total area of 0.66 square miles (1.71 km2), of which 0.52 square miles (1.35 km2) (or 79.57%) is land and 0.13 square miles (0.34 km2) (or 20.43%) is water.
Demographics
As of the 2020 census there were 99 people, 42 households, and 35 families residing in the village. The population density was 150.91 inhabitants per square mile (58.27/km2).
“Hamburg, Illinois” enters the record as village in Calhoun County, Illinois, United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Hamburg, Illinois and village can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Hamburg, Illinois” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Hamburg, Illinois and village provides the most credible route into that argument.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2672139. Authority coordinates are 39.231, -90.716. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 2010, 1836 and 1975.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Hamburg, Illinois”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Hamburg, Illinois primary sources, Hamburg, Illinois archive and Hamburg research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Hamburg, Illinois” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.