West Frankfort memorial

Coal Miners Memorial Park (100 E. Main) honors the 119 miners killed in the Orient Mine No 2 disaster that took place on December 21,1951. Because of the date of the explosion, there are many older residents who remember it and many “baby boomer” adults who grew up hearing about it. The Southern Illinoisan website has published the heartbreaking front page of its first issue after the explosion, before the full scale of the tragedy was known. A memorial service is regularly held to commemorate the disaster.


Above we see the first memorial in West Frankfort’s Coal Miners Memorial Park.

Through a funding campaign underway at the Old King Coal Festival in May 2019, by July 4, 2020 West Frankfort raised enough money to inaugurate this $40,000 additional memorial to the victims of the Orient No. 2 disaster of 1951, inscribed with the names of each victim. This memorial is also located in the Coal Miners Memorial Park in downtown West Frankfort, a few feet from the first one.