When a worker is injured, they turn to workers’ compensation for relief. It’s not a perfect system, but it does provide financial support to pay doctor bills and compensate for time off work. 

Imagine a world without workers’ compensation. If someone was injured, they had to rely on family, friends, or corporate benevolence. In 1911, Illinois passed its first workers’ compensation law. The passage of that law can be directly tied to a disaster in the tiny village of Cherry, Illinois.

In 1909 Cherry was a booming mining town. Almost 500 men and boys labored underground, mining coal to feed the locomotives of the Milwaukee Railroad. The mine was relatively new, having opened in 1905, featuring an underground electric lighting system.

On November 13, 1909, that electrical system failed. Miners went back to the old-fashioned method of torches and lanterns. Unfortunately, a small fire broke out in a hay wagon bringing feed to the mules underground. Because there was no quick action to extinguish it, the fire spread, as one misjudgement after another fueled the flames. Before the day was over, 259 miners laid dead, either from asphyxiation or immolation. Brave rescue attempts were made and a rescue crew also sadly perished. Twenty men retreated deep in the mine and sealed themselves off, surviving for a week underground before rescue. 

The shock and outcry over Cherry led to political action and calls for mine safety legislation. As public donations came into the community, a review board was established, modeled after the recently passed British Workers’ Compensation law, to hear claims from the bereaved families and survivors. The United Mine Workers helped serve on that committee. Approximately $1,800 was given to each surviving family in the summer of 1910. The next year, Illinois passed its first Workers Compensation Act. Thus workers would no longer have to simply rely on charity after an industrial accident.

November 14-15, 2009, the Village of Cherry commemorated the disaster and the miners. Over 1000 people were present when the new monument was dedicated by the Village Hall.

by Michael G. Matejka, GPLDC staff & Illinois Labor History Society Vice-President

Laborers Local 393 members behind the new Cherry Mine monument.  The Local not only financially donated to the monument, it also donated labor for the landscaping around it and helped with traffic control and coordination of the November 14-15 centennial commemoration.