Sherrard, IL

Sherrard is a Mercer County village of 692 residents in the 2020 census, built on a broad flat-topped ridge between drainage toward Mill Creek and Camp Creek. The village was surveyed in April 1894 and platted in May after the Coal Valley Mining Company acquired the land from David Sherrard. It grew quickly as a coal town, with 375 residents recorded in 1895 and 906 by 1910. The mine closed in 1918, but the village remained a township commercial center.

Sherrard's present-day connections run through agriculture, the Quad Cities, and Unit 200 schools. Sherrard CUSD 200 covers 182 square miles across Mercer and Rock Island counties, with elementary, junior high, and senior high buildings around the village and nearby communities. Fyre Lake, a private lake development on the southeast edge, adds homes, golf, boating, swimming, and fishing. A library, fire department, village hall, and the annual summer fish fry keep the village's civic calendar close to its mining-era street grid.