Pana was settled by people of European origin, coming from Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky. Some had been born abroad and some were Americans by birth. The town grew and by 1857 it was chartered. By 1880 Pana had 3,000 residents and it grew yet more in the following decade because of the coal mining industry that arose to take advantage of a rich seam. Railroads transported the coal, being represented by the Big Four: Illinois Central, New York Central, Baltimore & Ohio, and Chicago & Eastern Illinois.

Pana Coal Company Mine No. 1 was, as its name suggests, the first to exploit coal.

More mines were opened and yielded good results. Indeed, mining was booming and it created a need for for more labor and more housing. A wave of Irish, Pole, Slav, French, German, and Italian immigrants filled the labor demand.

Miners’ pay was variable and low and, moreover, not always paid in money but in company scrip, redeemable at company stores. Needless to say, conditions in the mine were poor. Nevertheless, the Pana miners did not become interested in the United Mine Workers union until 1897 when the UMWA called a nationwide strike. Coal operators acceded to the union’s demands with the notable exception, in Illinois, of the Pana and Virden mine operators. In 1898 Pana miners presented a list of grievances to the operators and a second strike began in Pana on April 1. Penwell is the name most closely associated with mining in Pana and with the tumultuous miners’ strike of 1898-1899.

Mine operators in Pana did what their fellow capitalists were doing in Virden in response to the strike: seek cheaper African American labor from Alabama as scabs. Two hundred African Americans arrived by train on August 24, 1898. As at Virden, the coal operators built a stockade to protect the scabs. And, as at Virden, the scabs seemed to have no knowledge that they were being recruited to break a strike. By October 4, 1898 at least seven hundred African Americans were in Pana, along with their families in many cases. Racial animosity ran high with prejudice furthered by in-group African American behavior regarded as unacceptable by the white population, such as (reputedly) excessive drinking, brawling, and liberal conduct among the black women. Had the scabs been white, they also would not have been welcome by the striking white miners of Pana.

Notwithstanding their poor pay and miserable working conditions, most of the African American miners remained in Pana. The non-mining white population was hostile to the black miners as well. Racist language was rife on the street and in newspapers and city meetings.

Striking miners began to capture coal operators. Appeals for state troops were made to Springfield, but without success. As the strike simmered some coal operators mobilized their own armed force, to which the striking miners objected. The mayor closed the saloons. Tensions continued to rise as the UMWA sought to legally close the non-compliant mines and African American miners continued to work. Mass encounters began to take place on the street between white and black miners. Finally, on September 28, 1898 an actual armed battle took place. State troops arrived to try to maintain order. In Pana there were more shootings between African Americans and white miners. Meanwhile, the “Battle of Virden” was happening in Virden on October 12, 1898.

Martial law was declared between November 7-21, 1898 but violence on both sides continued in the armed populace, and insults were hurled at the troops. The governor decreed that no weapons could be carried by civilians but this order was largely unsuccessful.

The strike continued into 1899 with street violence and legal suits back and forth. The state troops began to be removed in mid-January. Well into March there were fights and deaths, including black on black.

On April 10, 1899 the event known as the Pana Riot broke out, having been boiling into existence for many months. There was general shooting on both sides but the number of dead remains uncertain. In addition to African American versus white striking miner violence, businesses were attacked. Many Pana residents are reported to have fled. White union miners organized in squads to look for African Americans fleeing the scene.

LISTEN TO HISTORIAN KEVIN CORLEY’S FASCINATING ACCOUNT OF PANA’S TROUBLES IN THIS AUDIO FILE: CLICK

In the end, we might conclude that ultimate blame lay with the coal operators who refused to abide by the UMWA national wage scale and who refused any compromise, seeking instead to use cheaper non-union labor. All sides engaged in violence in those months: the militia of the coal operators, the African American scabs, the white unionized miners.

With the riot over, a scheduled ordinary municipal election occurred in which African American men voted (this was before the Nineteenth Amendment of 1920). The pro-union candidate won. And the last soldiers again left Pana, on June 26, 1899. On October 10, 1899 a settlement between union mines and the coal operators was definitively resolved in favor of the miners.

The reputation of Pana, as a town, was severely damaged by the widely reported strike. People in neighboring towns stopped coming to Pana in fear of violence. Moreover, African Americans were driven from Pana, by threat, coercion and inducement. Pana retained a strong feeling against African Americans for decades and it became a classic sundown town in which African Americans were unwelcome to reside. Pana is still an overwhelmingly white town (more than 95%).