Homberg is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Pope County,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, near the Ohio River and about five miles (8 km) southwest of the county seat of Golconda. It is on a flat riverbed, a former channel of the Ohio River when the river turned west and flowed a bit south of the present Illinois Route 146, crossing the current

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

south of

Cape Girardeau, Missouri Cape Girardeau ( , french: Cap-Girardeau ; colloquially referred to as "Cape") is a city in Cape Girardeau and Scott Counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. At the 2020 census, the population was 39,540. The city is one of two principal citi ...

, eventually merging with the Mississippi of that time, near

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. Earthquakes of 10,000 years ago may have helped change the channels of the rivers. A rail line,''At Last! A Line to Golconda!'' dead link
/ref> used to transport

feldspar Feldspars are a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagioclase'' (sodium-calcium) felds ...

mined near Rosiclare, ran through Homberg. The rail line, abandoned as mining died down, was officially removed in 1982. A small foodstore which doubled as a post office, continued to operate until the 1970s. The bluff along the north side of the old river bed is 240 feet high.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Pope County, Illinois Unincorporated communities in Illinois