Moweaqua Coal Mine Disaster
CITY:
Moweaqua
COUNTY:
Shelby
DEDICATED BY:
The Moweaqua Coal Mine Museum and The Illinois State Historical Society
DEDICATION DATE:
October 15, 1990 at 12:00:00 AM
The marker is located on the grounds of the Pogenpohl Ready-Mix Plant, which is in the extreme southwest part of Moweaqua, just east of the railroad tracks. It is on Cherry Street, west of Old US 51.
This is the site of the Moweaqua Coal Mine Disaster which on December 24, 1932 took the lives of all 54 miners entering the mine that day. The Moweaqua Coal Mine was Shelby County’s largest. An unprecedented drop in barometric pressure allowed methane gas to escape into the mine. The explosion occurred at 8 a.m. when the gas was ignited by open flame carbide lights. Efforts of rescue teams searching for survivors were in vain, although all bodies were recovered. This marked the end of the era of open flame carbide lights.