Williamson County is a county in Southern Illinois. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 67,153. The largest city and county seat is Marion.
Jackson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois with a population of 52,974 at the 2020 census, the county is located 98 miles southeast of St. Louis. Its county seat is Murphysboro, and its most populous city is Carbondale, home to the main campus of Southern Illinois University. The county was incorporated on January 10, 1816, and named for Andrew Jackson. The community of Brownsville served as the fledgling county's first seat. Jackson County is included in the Carbondale-Marion, IL Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is located in the southern portion of Illinois known locally as "Little Egypt".
Carbondale is a city in Jackson County, Illinois, United States, within the Southern Illinois region informally known as "Little Egypt". As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 25,083, making it the most populous city in Southern Illinois outside the Metro East region of Greater St. Louis.
Buckner is a village in Franklin County, Illinois, United States. The population was 409 at the 2020 census. The current mayor is Aaron Eubanks.
Royalton is a village in Franklin County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,068 at the 2020 census.
Dowell is a village in Jackson County, Illinois, United States. The population was estimated to be 385 at the 2020 census, down from 408 at the 2010 census.
Harrisburg is a city in and the county seat of Saline County, Illinois, United States. It is located about 55 miles southwest of Evansville, Indiana, and 111 mi (179 km) southeast of St. Louis, Missouri. Its 2020 population was 8,219, and the surrounding Harrisburg Township had a population of 10,037, including the city residents. Harrisburg is included in the Illinois–Indiana–Kentucky tri-state area and is the principal city in the Harrisburg micropolitan statistical area with a combined population of 24,913.
Muddy is a small incorporated village located in the Harrisburg Township in Saline County, Illinois, United States. The population was 78 at the 2000 census.
Cambria is a village in northwestern Williamson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,228 at the 2010 census.
Colp is a village in Williamson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 225 at the 2010 census.
Herrin is a city in Williamson County, Illinois. The population was 12,352 at the 2020 census. The city is part of the Marion-Herrin Micropolitan Area and is a part of the Carbondale-Marion-Herrin, Illinois Combined Statistical Area with 123,272 residents, the sixth most populous Combined statistical area in Illinois.
The city of Marion is the county seat of Williamson County, Illinois, United States. The population in Marion, IL was 16,855 according to the 2020 census.
Southern Illinois is a region of the U.S. state of Illinois comprising the southern third of the state, principally south of Interstate 70. Part of downstate Illinois, it is bordered by the two most voluminous rivers in the United States: the Mississippi below its connection with the Missouri River to the west and the Ohio River to the east and south, with the tributary Wabash River, extending the southeastern border. Some areas of Southern Illinois are known historically as Little Egypt.
Weaver is an unincorporated community in Clark County, Illinois, United States. Weaver is located along U.S. Route 40 northeast of Marshall, between Pond Creek and Big Muddy River.
Dewmaine was an unincorporated African-American coal-mining community in Williamson County, Illinois. Today the area is almost completely non-residential and vacant land, though it now sits at the northern edge of Carterville. Its name is an amalgamation of Admiral Dewey and the USS Maine from the Spanish–American War.
No. 9 is a predominantly African-American unincorporated community located in Williamson County, Illinois on the west side of the incorporated village of Colp. Historically, Colp was mostly white and No. 9 black. Its most famous establishment was Ma Hatchett's, operated by Johanna "Ma" Hatchett (1892–1961), a roadhouse and brothel that opened during Prohibition Era at least as early as 1927 and operated until closed following a raid by the Illinois State Police in 1957.
Halfway, Illinois was a rough and very wet unincorporated community nicknamed "Little Juarez" in Williamson County, Illinois, at what is believed to the crossroads of Illinois Route 37 and Prosperity Road between Marion and Johnston City. Its heyday was between 1915 and 1925. The name originated because it was about halfway between Marion and Herrin, located a few miles to the west on what is now a county highway. The nickname came about from the general lawlessness, shootings and proliferation of gambling and booze, even during Prohibition.
The Battle of Virden, also known as the Virden Mine Riot and Virden Massacre, was a labor union conflict and a racial conflict in central Illinois that occurred on October 12, 1898. After a United Mine Workers of America local struck a mine in Virden, Illinois, the Chicago-Virden Coal Company hired armed detectives or security guards to accompany African-American strikebreakers to start production again. An armed conflict broke out when the train carrying these men arrived at Virden. Strikers were also armed: a total of five detective/security guards and eight striking mine workers were killed, with five guards and more than thirty miners wounded. In addition, at least one black strikebreaker on the train was wounded. The engineer was shot in the arm. This was one of several fatal conflicts in the area at the turn of the century that reflected both labor union tension and racial violence. Virden, at this point, became a sundown town, and most black miners were expelled from Macoupin County.
The Kathleen Mine was a coal mine that operated in the nearby coal town of Dowell, Illinois, United States, from 1918 to 1946. At peak production, its output was 5,000 tons/day of coal. It was operated by the Union Colliery Company in St. Louis. Many miners who worked in the Kathleen were immigrants from eastern Europe, including Rusyns
The Carterville Mine Riot was part of the turn-of-the-century Illinois coal wars in the United States. The national United Mine Workers of America coal strike of 1897 was officially settled for Illinois District 12 in January 1898, with the vast majority of operators accepting the union terms: thirty-six to forty cents per ton, an 8-hour day, and union recognition. However, several mine owners in Carterville, Virden, and Pana, refused or abrogated. They attempted to run with African-American strikebreakers from Alabama and Tennessee. At the same time, lynching and racial exclusion were increasingly practiced by local white mining communities. Racial segregation was enforced within and among UMWA-organized coal mines.
