Gillespie

Gillespie is located on the 1926-1930 alignment of Route 66. Pun intended, it is a town on the move. And today that movement is happening without the coal industry that once made Gillespie prosperous. The regeneration of Gillespie is due to a dynamic group of citizens and city officials who formed a “Grow Gillespie” organization, whose plan was announced in a series of public meetings in early 2019. Grow Gillespie features initiatives to improve downtown aesthetics, encourage entrepreneurship, retain and grow existing businesses and encourage new businesses to open downtown. WATCH THIS VIDEO OF GILLESPIE’S DOWNTOWN (from Abigail Bobrow’s online essay, Built on Coal). 


Also significantly contributing to the town’s renaissance is the Illinois Coal Museum,located on the main street which is called Macoupin after the county. Right now the Mythic Mississippi Project is working the ICM’s visionary curator, Dave Tucker, to signpost several of the historically significant buildings on Macoupin Street, including the building that once house the co-op for the miners. These are the proofs of some of the plaques that will be placed on the buildings, creating a fascinating walking tour through Gillespie.

   

     

Let’s look at Gillespie’s coal history. Gillespie had some of the largest coal mines in the world and coal mines were located throughout the township.

 Labor Day in 1909This photo of Gillespie main street shows the town’s prosperity.

Gillespie is tremendously important in the history of the labor movement associated with coal mining because the Progressive Miners of America union was born here in 1932 as a breakaway from the United Mineworkers of America.

The inaugural meeting of the Progressives was held in the Colonial Theater (on the corner of Chestnut and Montgomery), long ago razed. Today a dedicated group of Gillespie residents maintains the site as a community garden named “Colonial Giving Garden” in remembrance of the significant historical event that took place on that piece of land in 1932. Our project worked with the Illinois State Historical Society, City of Gillespie and the Illinois Coal Museum to erect a historical marker on the site where the Colonial Theater stood. The marker was inaugurated on May 1, 2021.
 L: Dave Tucker, Curator, Illinois Coal Museum; R: Dan Fisher, former mayor of Gillespie.
  SOURCE: https://hintongen.com/gillespie/pmwa1.html


The Colonial Theater was located on this corner, which volunteers turned into a beautiful garden in Summer 2021, as seen below. This is where the historical marker commemorating the founding of the Progressive Miners of America was placed.

The UMW-Progressives schism was ideological and physical, leading to extreme violence between the two groups. This story and many other aspects of local coal mining and labor history are told in the Illinois Coal Museum. A visit to the museum is highly recommended.

Today, Gillespie High School’s football team is called the Miners as are both the men’s and ladies’ baseball teams.
Gillespie’s Illinois Coal Museum also features the Route 66 Blue Carpet Corridor as part of its comprehensive exhibit.