Cardiff, Illinois
The village of Cardiff was built on this site in 1899, after the discovery of
underground coal deposits. A mine was sunk and a relatively large town developed
within months. The town, originally known as North Campus, incorporated as the
Village of Cardiff in May, 1900.
A series of mine explosions from March 12-16, 1903, killed nine mine workers. Three men
remain entombed in the mine. A second mine was sunk to the west, and mining operations
resumed. More than 2,000 people lived in Cardiff at its peak. Cardiff had a church, a
school, two banks, two grain elevators, a semi-pro baseball team, a bottling plant,
railroad passenger service, a hotel, numerous saloons, and other businesses.
Prosperity continued for Cardiff until the high quality coal ran out and the Wabash
Railroad, the mine's biggest customer, refused to buy Cardiff coal. The mine closed in
1912.
A total of 18 men died in mine accidents in Cardiff.
Almost as fast as the town developed, it disappeared. Houses and other buildings were
dismantled or moved whole. Today the town of Cardiff is gone, yet remains a legally
incorporated village. Two large hills of waste from the mine are monuments to the
people who lived, worked, and died here. Dozens of acres that had been homes, stores,
yards, and streets have now gone back to farmland.
Marker is at the intersection of County Road N 3400E and County Road E 2900N, on the left when traveling north on County Road N 3400E.
Courtesy hmdb.org
