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as clothing stores, two meat markets, two bakeries, several barber shops, a millinery shop, two livery stables, several general stores, a pharmacy, two blacksmith shops, two ice houses, and a real estate and insurance office. It even had an automobile dealership at the time when automobiles were just becoming available.
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And then disaster struck. Around midnight on
Thursday, March 12, 1903, an explosion in the mine sent a huge blast of air that blew three miners against the shaft wall, killing them. The huge explosion shook the town and awakened most of the residents. Flames and debris shot up more than 100 feet from
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In 1983 a state reclamation project had slack taken off the large hill created from mining operations and used it to fill in the mine shafts. Slack is the mixture of coal fragments, coal dust and dirt that remains after screening coal. The concrete abutments at the mine site were also removed. There
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Within a few years, Cardiff grew even larger. The mine employed about 500 miners, and the population of the town was estimated to be 2,000 to 2,500 people. The town had two banks, two grain elevators, a soft-drink bottling plant, a candy factory and at least two dance halls. There were business such
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A third explosion occurred on Monday just before another crew was going to go in for repairs. This was the largest blast of the three, blowing out the top of the mine shaft and damaging machinery, the tower house, and the engine house. Company carpenter Allen
Michaels was looking down the shaft when
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Rescuers were able to get the dead and all the injured out of the mine near five in the morning on Friday. Funerals for the three victims were held in
Cardiff on Sunday. Those killed were Charles Joseph Hewitt, 23, a single man; John McClosky, 23, who had a wife and one child; and James Barra, 41,
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On that same Sunday morning, a crew of six men were in the mine cleaning up debris from the explosion. Shortly after the funerals were finished, a second mine explosion occurred. Five of the six men working were killed. Those killed were Anton
Hassell, 38, who had a wife and three children; Anton
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Prior to the arrival of the mine and town of
Cardiff, the area was known as Collopy's Corners. It was farm land owned by Patrick Collopy and his wife Ann. Collopy had purchased his first 40 acres there in April 1899 for $ 1000. The rural intersection, which would become Wabash and Main Streets in
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Then a different type of disaster struck. In 1910 the Wabash
Railroad, which was the largest customer of Cardiff Coal Co., announced that it would no longer purchase Cardiff coal. The quality of coal had declined to where it no longer met the requirements of the railroad's steam engines. Without
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Brewing Co. had a large presence in
Cardiff. It put up a building on the corner of Main Street and Morris Avenue in 1900. Schlitz put up a second building in 1902 at the corner of Ahern Street and Wabash Avenue. The first building was used for cold storage and the second was used for retail beer
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Today all that is left of
Cardiff are a few remnants of cracked sidewalks and of course the large slag hill of waste from the second mine and a smaller hill above the first mine. There are just a few houses and trailers along a rural road in the area. What was once called Cardiff is all gone.
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The
Cardiff mine officially closed September 21, 1912. People quickly left the town and most of the remaining businesses closed. Most of the houses were dismantled and moved to nearby towns and farms where they were reassembled. Cardiff Coal Company's property was sold at a public auction on
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A schoolhouse was completed in
December 1899. Miss Bronson was hired as the teacher and about 40 children began school in January 1900. The first church service also started in January, when Rev. Brothers of Reddick started preaching and teaching Sunday School in the new schoolhouse.
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As the mine developed into a big business, the village continued to grow. By January 1903 there were 400 miners bringing up 1,200 to 1,600 tons of coal per day, and the company was still not able to meet the demand for its coal. The village had a population of over 2,000 people.
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Ground was broken for the new mine on May 6, 1899. Coal was found at a depth of 250 feet. The White Breast Fuel Coal Co. named its subsidiary the Campus Coal Co. And for the first four months of developing the mine site in 1899, the area was known as North Campus.
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The White Breast Fuel Coal Company arrived in the area in 1899 looking to start a coal mine near the village of Campus. After meeting resistance from many of the people in Campus, the coal company purchased land from Patrick Collopy in May 1899 for $ 7,660.
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The town had pressurized water system, a gas works system, and an electric light plant. There was a railroad depot, and two railroad lines with passenger service. It had a first class hotel with fine cuisine. There was a doctor's office and a post office.
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Two more explosions occurred over the next couple days. No one else was hurt. The toll in the five explosions was nine dead and thirteen injured. The cause of the explosion was never determined although it was likely due to a gas explosion.
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A number of homes were quickly built for the workers. The Hotel DeWelcome was built on the north end of town and in 1900 the Hotel Cardiff opened. One of the biggest stores in town was the Livingston Supply Co., the company store.
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However, shortly after the devastating explosions the Cardiff Coal Co. announced that they would sink a new mine shaft nearby. Work began in April 1903 and the first coal was brought up from the new mine on Sunday, June 7, 1903.
98:. The name of the company was changed to the Cardiff Coal Company. Charles I. Pierce was president of the company and Joseph M. Blee was secretary and assistant auditor. By mid-September, coal was being hauled to
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Fred E. Ahern, who owned farmland adjacent to the mine site, was one of the first men to recognize the opportunity. By the end of 1899, he was selling lots in the new town and had built a house on a corner lot.
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Jeokoski, 23, a single man; Ulysses Alderson, 23, who left a wife and two children; Archie Wilson, 51, who had a wife and seven children; and James Hutchinson, 51, who left a widow and eight children.
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The mine was built in the first half of 1899 and in June miners started blasting rock and removing clay from the surface. A railroad spur was extended two miles north from the
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Cardiff's 17,000-bushel grain elevator opened on October 2, 1899. Farmers lined up for a quarter mile in all four directions bringing in their grain to the elevator.
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The peak of the mine and Cardiff were the years of 1907 and 1908. In 1907 a total of 216,781 tons of coal was mined and in 1908, a total of 216,987 tons was mined.
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By mid-October 1899, 50 tons of coal per day was being taken from the mine. That number increased to 100 tons by November and 200 tons by December. Men from
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The village of Cardiff was officially incorporated on Thursday, May 24, 1900. The first election was held June 19, 1900 and Frank Milem was elected mayor.
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The mine was a total loss. It was estimated at a $ 100,000 loss by the company. The disaster looked like it would spell doom for Cardiff.
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By 1920 the population of Cardiff was down to 152. The 1927 telephone book listed two businesses and only three people with telephones.
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sales. In 1904 Schlitz built a two-story building which was advertised as “one of the finest saloons between Chicago and St. Louis.”
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Wabash, the profitability of the mine suffered dramatically and soon it became clear that the mine would eventually have to close.
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were two ponds where coal was washed after it was dug for the mines. These ponds have mostly been filled in and become overgrown.
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On September 1, 1899, the town was officially named Cardiff after one of the richest coal mining areas in the world -
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Cardiff: Ghost Town of the Prairie, by Jim Ridings; Published by Side Show Books, Herscher, Illinois, 2006, p. 5
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Cardiff: Ghost Town of the Prairie, by Jim Ridings; Published by Side Show Books, Herscher, Illinois, 2006.
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268:"Cardiff Populated Place Profile / Livingston County, Illinois Data"
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Monument to the men who died in the Cardiff mine explosions
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Cardiff: Ghost Town of the Prairie, 2006, p.3 & 30
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217:"Livingston County, Illinois - Coal and Coal Mining"
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557:Cardiff memorial reclaims lost community's past
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516:Cardiff: Ghost Town of the Prairie, 2006, p. 97
669:Map of Illinois highlighting Livingston County
525:Cardiff: Ghost Town of the Prairie, 2006, p.96
498:Cardiff: Ghost Town of the Prairie, 2006, p.49
489:Cardiff: Ghost Town of the Prairie, 2006, p.48
462:Cardiff: Ghost Town of the Prairie, 2006, p.24
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567:A post about Cardiff, Illinois on AmeriCymru
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16:Ghost town in Illinois, United States
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1114:Populated places established in 1899
1119:Welsh-American culture in Illinois
602:Municipalities and communities of
150:who had a wife and four children.
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562:Cardiff Ghost Town on the Prairie
1124:1899 establishments in Illinois
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72:Cardiff, was “the corners.”
33:Monument in Cardiff, Illinois
272:illinois.hometownlocator.com
91:in Campus to the mine site.
605:Livingston County, Illinois
158:it explode and was killed.
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242:"A Ghost Town Remembered"
1104:Ghost towns in Illinois
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941:communities
904:Round Grove
899:Rooks Creek
839:Germanville
756:Rooks Creek
620:County seat
246:Our Lineage
114:Clarke City
1098:Categories
1071:88°17′14″W
1068:41°03′06″N
1015:Ghost town
954:Blackstone
849:Long Point
809:Chatsworth
740:Long Point
686:Chatsworth
541:References
110:Braceville
42:ghost town
1028:Footnotes
974:Charlotte
804:Charlotte
799:Broughton
776:Townships
118:Coal City
989:McDowell
984:Manville
979:Graymont
914:Sullivan
909:Saunemin
854:Nebraska
761:Saunemin
730:Flanagan
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696:Villages
655:Streator
645:Fairbury
50:Illinois
1021:Cardiff
994:Munster
919:Sunbury
894:Reading
889:Pontiac
864:Newtown
834:Forrest
829:Fayette
750:Reddick
735:Forrest
709:Cornell
650:Pontiac
627:Pontiac
277:June 5,
252:June 5,
226:June 5,
135:Schlitz
66:Reddick
38:Cardiff
1000:Nevada
969:Cayuga
949:Ancona
859:Nevada
814:Dwight
766:Strawn
719:Dwight
714:Cullom
704:Campus
637:Cities
62:Campus
1005:Ocoya
959:Blair
929:Waldo
924:Union
874:Owego
869:Odell
824:Esmen
789:Avoca
784:Amity
745:Odell
203:Notes
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879:Pike
678:Town
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228:2018
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