Gillespie, IL

Gillespie’s story starts with settlers from Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana arriving in the late 1820s, then picks up speed when the town was surveyed and incorporated in 1853. It was named for Judge Joseph Gillespie, and by 1904 the city had reached 3,100 people. A devastating business-district fire in January 1905 was followed by rebuilding and a coal boom that pushed the population toward 6,000. The mines shaped the city for generations, and the Illinois Coal Museum now keeps that labor and mining history in the middle of town. The 1926–1930 Route 66 alignment also passed through Gillespie, giving the city a second historic thread alongside the coal seams.