Dec. 21, 1951, forever changed Franklin County. It was a Friday evening, and the town was bright with holiday lights. Christmas trees glistened in the windows along residential streets. A light snow covered the ground.
The school’s gymnasium was packed for a Friday night basketball game as West Frankfort took on Marion. Hours later, the gym would become a morgue.
There were 247 miners who showed up to the Orient 2 Mine that night around 4 p.m. Of that crew, 218 went down. It was to be their last shift until after Christmas. Chalked on the blackboard as they headed underground that evening was the greeting, “Merry Christmas to the night crew.”
At approximately 7:35 p.m., a methane gas explosion occurred. It rocked a vast portion of the 12-square-mile mine. It snapped timber like tooth picks and picked cars off the tracks, moving them like toys.
That night claimed the lives of 119 men.
— Molly Parker, The Southern (originally published in 2016)
The Southern Illinoisan Front Page - Dec. 22, 1951
Orient mine explosion
Rescue workers pull a miner worker from the Orient No. 2 coal mine in West Frankfort, Ill., Dec. 22, 1951, following an underground methane explosion. The state legislature passed the Illinois Mining Act of 1953, mandating better ventilation in underground mines and better testing for methane, which investigators said was the cause of the blast.
Orient mine explosion
A miner is pulled from the C.W. & F. New Orient Mine No. 2 at West Frankfort on Dec. 21, 1951, after a methane explosion 500 feet below the surface. More than half of the 200 men working that night at the Chicago, Wilmington and Franklin Coal mine were killed in what was Illinois' worst coal-mine disaster since 1909 and the worst in the half-century since.
Orient mine explosion
Rescue workers remove one of the 119 dead bodies from the Orient No. 2 mine following the disaster on Dec. 21, 1951.
Orient No. 2 Mine
Orient No. 2's Portal 4 located between Benton and West Frankfort is where the bodies were taken out of the mine.
Orient No. 2 Memorial Service - 2016
West Frankfort mayor Tom Jordan recounts the events from Friday, Dec. 21, 1951, when the Orient No. 2 mine exploded, killing 119 miners, during a 2016 memorial service, on the 65th anniversary of the disaster. There is a memorial gathering held in West Frankfort every five years.
Orient No. 2 Memorial Service - 2016
Before the memorial service at Trinity United Methodist Church in West Frankfort, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016, people look at memorabilia from the Orient No. 2 mine disaster, and mining in general. The items are from the collection of Eric Wiegand.
Orient No. 2 Memorial Service - 2016
During a 2016 memorial service for the Orient No. 2 mine disaster, pictures of each of the 119 victims were projected above a cross with miners gear and "Silent Night" was sung as 119 lit candles were extinguished one by one at Trinity United Methodist Church in West Frankfort, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016. The memorial service happens every five years.
Orient No. 2 Memorial Service - 2016
119 candles were lit in memory of the victims of the Orient No. 2 Mine disaster that occurred in 1951. The candles were then extinguished one by one as a picture of each victim was projected above a cross with miners gear and "Silent Night" was sung during a Memorial Service held at Trinity United Methodist Church in West Frankfort, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016.
Orient No. 2 Memorial Service - 2016
119 candles were lit in memory of the victims of the Orient No. 2 Mine disaster at a memorial service in 2016. The candles were then extinguished one by one as a picture of each victim was projected above a cross with miners gear and "Silent Night" was sung during a Memorial Service held at Trinity United Methodist Church in West Frankfort, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016.
