Moweaqua, IL

Moweaqua is an Illinois village spread across Shelby and Christian counties, with a coal-mining history that still shapes its identity. The mine operated from 1891 to 1935, and on Christmas Eve 1932 a methane explosion killed all 54 miners who entered for the day shift. The Moweaqua Coal Mine Museum, opened in 1986, keeps those miners and the town’s mining story in view. Moweaqua is a prairie village with a hard-working past and a memorial that gives the old mine a place in the present.