Energy, IL

Energy is a Williamson County village in southern Illinois, just north of Herrin and a short drive from Marion. The 2020 census counted 974 residents. Village government maintains its own water and sewer system, streets, police, and fire services, while the nearby cities handle more of the region's shopping, medical care, and employment. Churches, education, and parks are part of the village's community map. The name still hints at the work that shaped the area: Energy grew inside the southern Illinois coalfield, where rail lines once carried workers and coal between the surrounding towns.

ATTRBrian Stansberry (photographer) / CC BY 4.0

Before it was Energy, the community was Fordville. The Coal Belt Electric Railway reached the area in the early 1900s, and a junction called the Y sent tracks toward Herrin, Marion, and Carterville. Fordville incorporated in 1904; in 1913, Taylor Coal Company persuaded the village to adopt Energy as the company's coal trademark. The mines and streetcar line are gone, but the old transportation pattern still marks the village's location. Today Energy is a small local-government community in a county whose history also includes agriculture, mineral springs, and the long afterlife of coal.