Category Archives: Coal mines and mining

Thayer

Founded: Thayer was incorporated in 1901, centered around a railway station on the Chicago & Alton line and a Chicago, Wilmington & Vermilion Coal Co. mine that, by 1910, employed 450 miners. As of 1910, Thayer had a population of … Continue reading

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Dawson

The village of Dawson is near an old Native American trail that ran from Clear Lake to Buffalo Hart. The village itself was incorporated in 1883, two years after the Wabash Coal & Mining Co. opened a mine shaft in the … Continue reading

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John L. Lewis

For 40 years the head of the biggest coal miners union in the U.S. in an era when the country depended almost entirely on coal for its energy needs, John Llewellyn Lewis (1880-1969) was a household name from the 1920s … Continue reading

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Aetna Foundry and Machine Shops

The Aetna Foundry and Machine Shops, established in 1848 by a partnership named Lowry, Lamb & Co., operated for most of its existence at the southwest corner of Second and Adams streets in Springfield. John C. Lamb became sole owner in 1855. … Continue reading

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