[3] Hillview is located in northwestern Greene County at 39°26′59″N 90°32′17″W / 39.44972°N 90.53806°W / 39.44972; -90.53806 (39.449652, -90.537983),[4] in the valley of Hurricane Creek where it enters the Illinois River bottomlands.

Carrollton, the Greene County seat, is 18 miles (29 km) to the southeast.

According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Hillview has a total area of 0.82 square miles (2.12 km2), all land.

(From the Illinois Valley Cultural Heritage Association website) William Shelton, a ranger from Ft. Russell, Edwardsville, chose the alcove at the mouth of Hurricane Creek (creek at Eldred also called Hurricane), in 1826, to build a cabin.

The farm where Bishop's Dell was located is bordered on the south by Trimley creek and the barn that James Bishop constructed using wooden pegs still stands as well as the foundation of his one-room stone home built against the bluff.

W. D. Wells came from North Carolina in 1834 and planted a small apple orchard on his farm.

When the Chicago and Alton Railroad connected with the Kansas City branch at Roodhouse, Hillview was a lumber camp called Happy Ville.