Herrin appears to be unique in having two memorials concerned with coal mining, and they tell two very different tales.

Coal Miners Memorial (100 N. 14th Street)
The memorial’s plaque says: “In memory of coal miners, who gave so much that future generations may benefit with a better life… They labored, served their country, sacrificed for their families and some lost their lives … We honor and salute them so that they will never be forgotten. Dedicated October 14, 2000”. The memorial shows a miner talking affectionately to his little son. The miner appears to be ready to go on his shift, possibly saying goodbye to the boy. Alternatively, he may have returned home.

Prospecting for coal in this region began in 1892 and mining in the early twentieth century made Herrin relatively prosperous – including the miners whose condition improved thanks to the United Mine Workers union. As everywhere, however, the industry was rife with danger. Herrin commemorates and celebrates its miners with this major memorial in town.

The plaques on the wall of this memorial are fascinating for what they tell us about Herrin’s mining past in the words of its patrons/donors.

We see that miners had a strong sense of identity based on the mines in which they worked. We also learn that coal mining was perceived not just as an employment but a source of pride in the dedication to that employment. Indeed, many plaques proclaim the years worked in the mines. There are many plaques that reveal generations of miners in a family.

And the plaques reveal other dimensions of Herrin’s social history, such as immigration (especially Italian, and particularly from the Lombardy region of northern Italy), as indicated by surname. And some plaques speak to the lethal danger of working in a coal mine.

So important are the wall plaques to their patrons and the town that there is directory indicating the location of each plaque, organized by donor/subject and, when known, the relevant mine. The directory is contained in what looks like a mailbox with a pull-down door.

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This downtown memorial praises the heroism, identity, dedication and fortitude of miners in Herrin and the surrounding area. It contrasts greatly with Herrin’s other memorial, below.

Herrin Massacre Memorial (City Cemetery: 1324 E. Stotlar Street)
Today Herrin is pleasant downstate town. But one hundred years ago Herrin was the locus of a terrible event in the fraught history of coal, labor and small town society in southern Illinois. On June 21, 1922 a dispute broke out at the strip mine outside Herrin because the mine owner had brought in non-union men to load coal on the waiting railroad cars. The United Mine Workers argued that this was a violation of the strike then in progress. Meanwhile, the coal company had been harrassing local residents of Herrin and the miners. On June 22 the situation exploded when union miners massacred as many as 23 non-union men. This terrible event is represented in a 1940 painting by Paul Cadmus, which is held by the Columbus Art Museum.      

The bloody events in Herrin were widely reported in the news. An excellent podcast tells the story of the Herrin Massacre. LISTEN:
https://thisiscriminal.com/episode-132-herrin-massacre-1-24-2020/

The bodies of the victims were gathered. Some were claimed by relatives. The rest were buried in a potter’s field in Herrin City Cemetery. A trial brought no one to justice for the murders. Other events soon overtook Herrin and the Herrin Massacre receded in memory.

In 2013-2015 a multi-disciplinary research team from Eastern Illinois University and Southern Illinois University in collaboration with several local participants were able to find the unclaimed bodies of the murdered men in unmarked graves in the Herrin City Cemetery. They had been “deliberately lost” as the location became a potters field with poor people buried on top of the massacred dead. The victims were located. Individual donors contributed money to erect a memorial in the City Cemetery for the men who had been buried in unmarked graves. This is Herrin’s other coal mining memorial.

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NOTE
Several historical photos of the massacre event as well as photos of the excavation to discover the bodies are available on this website of the Chicago Tribune, which includes informative captions: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-herrin-massacre-cemetery-photos-20140819-photogallery.html

REFERENCES
Angle, Paul. Bloody Williamson. A Chapter in American Lawlessness. (Knopf, 1952)
Bailey, Greg. The Herrin Massacre of 1922. Blood and Coal in the Heart of America (McFarland, 2020).
Ballowe, James. One Hundred Years of Herrin Illinois, edited by Gordon Pruett (Herrin Chamber of Commerce, 2000).
Doody, Scott. Herrin Massacre. (Dick’s Chicken Shack, 2013)
Griswold, John. Brief History of an Infamous American City. (History Press, 2009)
Silverman, Helaine. “Murder, Normalization and Pride: A Tale of Two Memorials in Southern Illinois’ Coal Country.” Forthcoming in Illinois Heritage.