Published by admin on Wed, 08/01/2018 - 9:00am
Although we think of Braidwood as the city that started the “Coal Rush” in this area, the truth is that Braidwood and Coal City are the late comers to the area. The first of the coal towns was Gardner.
When Illinois became a state most of the population was in the southern part. Our area did not see the first white settler until 20 years later.
The towns on the I&M Canal were the first to prosper, then other towns that had some connection with the Canal started to grow. One of these towns was Wilmington.