Two Frenchmen, Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet, were credited with being the first to actually explore the Franklin County area in 1673. The French maintained interests in the region into the latter part of the eighteenth century, mostly through explorations and trade, but there was very little settlement by any white men. However, science has identified remnants of Indian tribes such as the Illinois and Shawnee predating that time. After the signing of the Peace of Paris, marking the end of the French and Indian War, the British regained control of the area. King George proclaimed the entire southern portion of Illinois as a perpetual hunting preserve for the Indians in 1763, forbidding settlement by white men, and fostering fur trade with the tribes. That lasted until the American Revolution ended British rule.
During the early nineteenth century, the Native Americans were warring with each other over control of this area. In 1802, the Kaskaskias and Shawnees waged a major battle, in which the Shawnees were triumphant, near what is today the town of West Frankfort (six miles south of Benton). In 1804, a group of white men came from Tennessee seeking land for their families to farm. Finding suitable land southeast of what is now Thompsonville (6 miles east of Benton), they built a fort for protection, and began to cultivate the land which outraged the Indians. Native American hostility, fed by the loss of hunting grounds through competitive land claims with the white man peaked during the War of 1812, when the Indians sided with the French, and went on the warpath against the settlers who had, in their minds, stolen their land. Many whites continued to move into the area, establishing homes and farms, putting more pressure on the Indians forcing them to move west. The former hunting grounds of the red man now became communities for this new population, where white men could supplement their agricultural livelihoods with hunting, fishing and trapping.
Illinois finally gained its statehood in 1818, with Franklin County being created that same year. Early settlement in the county was mostly along the waterways until the railroad was built in the late 1800s, creating a rush by land hungry white men. On March 1, 1841, Benton, named after Thomas Hart Benton, a Missouri congressman, became the county seat of Franklin County, and was incorporated in 1902.
The first area school, the Benton Academy, opened in 1841, and the first church was organized during the same year. A small building was erected as a County Courthouse that year and stood until 1843, when fire destroyed it. A new brick building was built in the center of the public square in 1845, which was used until the present structure replaced it in 1875. Several additions and modernization projects have been made to this building, and it serves the county today as a historical reminder of the past and hope for a brighter future. By 1870, Franklin County had become well known as an agricultural area. It became a fertile source of winter wheat, corn, oats, tobacco, potatoes, and beans, in addition to honey, sorghum, fruit, pork, wool and butter.
By the end of the nineteenth century, Benton and the other small communities in Franklin County were prospering, and with the eve of the coal boom approaching, the future promised great things and a changing landscape on the hillsides and prairies began.
Benton was a farming community until the early 1900s when the Zeigler Coal Company hoisted its first coal in Franklin County. For nearly a century, Benton was a mining town experiencing the growing prosperity of the coal boom. By 1918, state wide coal production of 90 million tons was the highest ever. In 1926, Franklin County had its highest production of 15.7 million tons of coal with its highest employment of 15,234 people in 1927.
There was a heavy cost in human lives during the development of prosperity in the coal industry. Underground coal mining is the most dangerous profession in the world, causing the loss of 51,000 human lives since 1870.
In April 1905, fifty-four men lost their lives in an explosion at the Zeigler Coal Company. In November 1908, fire broke out in the mine and the state mining-inspector ordered the shaft closed for 90 days. In January 1909, 90 days later, mine officials sent a clean-up crew underground. An explosion followed and 26 men were killed. In January 1909, the state mining-inspector ordered the Zeigler mine closed until further notice.
During the 1920s, under the powerful leadership of John L. Lewis, the members of the United Mine Workers of America went on strike at the Southern Illinois Coal Company strip mine in Williamson County. On April 1, 1922, the coal company continued to strip coal with union permission and dismissed its union miners. On June 15, 1922, fifty strikebreakers and mine guards, imported from Chicago, took over the operation of the strip mine. On June 16, 1922, the coal company made the erroneous decision to ship sixteen cars of coal in defiance of the strike.
Despite attempts by prominent citizens of Williamson County to avert violence, angry striking miners surrounded the mine on June 21, 1922. In the ensuing gunfire, two strikers were killed, a third fatally wounded. The state officials from the Adjutant General's Office at Springfield tried to affect a truce and believed they had succeeded. One day later, June 22, 1922, the strikebreakers surrendered. In the massacre that followed, nineteen were killed, one fatally wounded.
A grand jury convened in Marion to investigate the murders. On August 30, 1922, the grand jury returned its first indictment, charging a man who was a farmer and miner with murder. Illinois miners pledged one percent of their total monthly earnings for the defense of the men indicted for the Herrin murders. The grand jury recessed after having brought in 214 indictments, including 44 for murder.
Five men were tried for the murder of one of the victims of the Herrin Massacre. All five defendants were acquitted by the jury. Later, six men, including two of the defendants in the first case, went on trial for killing another man in the Herrin Massacre. A verdict of not guilty was returned.
The remaining indictments were processed and a committee of the Illinois House of Representatives, appointed to investigate the Herrin Massacre, held its first session at Springfield on April 11, 1923. On the last day of the legislative session, June 30, 1923, the House Investigating Committee presented majority and minority reports. A House Bill providing for a new investigation failed for want of Senate action.
The worst human tragedy for Franklin County happened at Orient No. 2 coal mine on Friday night, December 21, 1951. The miners had started the last shift before Christmas break when a methane explosion filled the tunnels 500 feet below the frozen surface. Families waited at the mine entrance and the makeshift morgue at the local junior high for word of fathers, husbands and brothers. The blast killed 119 workers, 38 from the Benton area, 49 from West Frankfort; the rest from small towns nearby. It was called Black Friday, but most families remember it as Black Christmas.
The tragedy was credited with hastening the passage of federal and state safety regulations that helped save lives in the decades that followed. That summer, President Harry S. Truman signed the Federal Coal Mine Safety Act, giving inspectors for the first time power to close unsafe mines. The state legislature passed the Illinois Mining Act of 1953, mandating better ventilation in underground mines and better testing for methane.
A fire in a Centralia mine in 1947 killed 111 prompting new rules requiring better tests for methane and rock dust. In 1962, one other mine disaster occurred in Southern Illinois at Herrin, when 12 miners were killed.
It takes a special type of person to go underground into a black, damp, dirty, dangerous environment to work eight hours without sunlight day after day. The miners have their own honor system under ground—they are a family and look out for each other. A brotherhood and an emotional bond develops between them that lasts their lifetime. For their biological families, they served not only as the "breadwinners" but as role models exemplifying the hard-work ethic, providing the funds and inspiration for their children and grandchildren to acquire a better education, to attain a better livelihood in the workplace as professionals.
In 1948, the first continuous miner began operation revolutionizing the methods of coal's extraction by eliminating the four-step process of mining coal. This involved cutting or picking the coal loose at the bottom of a seam and then drilling holes and blasting (with compressed air or explosives) before loading the loosened coal into a coal car. The continuous miner merged these four steps into one: a broad drum with carbide-tipped teeth now ripped the coal from the seam and passed it along a conveyer past the operator and into a waiting shuttle car (or "coal buggy"); the coal buggy then carried the coal to a coal car or a moving conveyer belt, which carried the coal out of the mine. The advent of the continuous miner changed the daily life of thousands of miners by largely eliminating two of the most dangerous practices of traditional mining: blasting, and making the "cut" along the base of a coal seam before blasting. The cut caused the loosened coal to fall at the bottom of the seam instead of being hurled back at the miners or otherwise scattered about by the blast. Unfortunately, blasting with explosives was an inexact science that could bring down the roof as well as loosening the coal and was especially controversial when it involved "shooting on shift"—was carried out while the mine was full of workers other than blasters. The continuous miner also eliminated many jobs outright.
In the mid-1960s miners could earn $7,500 per year or double that in the mid-70s, provided, of course, that their machines didn't dig more coal than industry could use, and that their unions didn't go out on strike. During this period, Judge James L. Foreman was faced with wildcat strikes between the union members and coal company officials since the cases were filed in the Benton federal court. Judge Foreman was unfamiliar with the coal mining industry but he soon became an expert, hearing a minimum of three hearings per week and sometimes one per day.
In 1990, the coal industry continued its reign as "King" in Franklin County when production was 6.9 million tons of coal providing jobs for 937 people with the entire state producing 61.7 million tons providing 10,129 people with jobs. But the "kingdom" changed with the passage of the federal 1990 Clean Air Act, which limited sulfur emissions from power plants. That, in turn, limited the demand for high-sulfur Illinois coal.
Although the Clean Air Act was the focus of the miners' rage, it was not the only problem they faced. Mining companies spent heavily to improve the productivity of their mines resulting in machines replacing men in both underground and strip mines. In 1981, the average miner could mine 14 tons of coal a day compared to 23 tons a day (almost double) in 1991.
By 1998, Illinois coal production had dwindled to 39.7 million tons and 4,259 jobs as a result of the closing of more than half the state's 43 coal mines. Even though coal production continued throughout Illinois from 1998 through 2001, there was no coal production in Franklin County during those years. The miners and their families suffered the tremendous loss of paychecks which had climbed to approximately $40,000 per year. Jobs were almost impossible to find. Some laid-off miners found work in other producing mines located in areas surrounding Franklin County, causing a long daily commute by car. Others found work in jobs that never paid as well as the mines. The loss to the local economies was devastating creating a chain reaction that eventually affected all local businesses and town governments.
Illinois floats on a sea of coal. The rich green swamp that covered the state 300 million years ago left a sheet of organic matter that time and pressure transformed into bituminous coal. The coal seams, some too low to mine, others as high as nine feet, cover two-thirds of the state. More than 30 billion tons of recoverable coal are known to rest in the earth, although the actual figure may be much higher with Illinois estimated to have enough coal to last until the year 2,500. Today, state and government officials continue their efforts to revitalize the Illinois coal industry. The people in Southern Illinois look forward to the renewed development and progress of their coal industry as a future supplier of energy.
Benton has an estimated population of 8,000. An additional 276,000 residents live within a thirty-five mile trade area. The tourism industry is a rapidly growing source of employment in this area with over four million tourists visiting the area annually since the development of Rend Lake with its 162 miles of shoreline and 19,000 acres of water area, offering boating, water skiing, marinas, camp sites, picnicking areas, swimming beaches, fishing, hunting and golf.
Currently, Benton has two industrial parks with diverse businesses located in them, one of which is Bombardier Motor Corporation, manufacturer of water recreational vehicles, and small plants manufacturing tools, water-well bits, and other items. Government jobs at the city, county, state and federal levels—in which the U.S. District Court plays a major role—employing over 300 people.
To help replace the loss of the coal mining industry, Benton is designated as an Enterprise Zone, beneficiary of the Illinois Enterprise Zone Act of 1982, which builds a coalition between state and local government to stimulate economic growth at the local level. With the goal to provide better livelihoods for their citizens, Benton city officials continue searching for new industries.
On March 4, 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated as President of the United States. Roosevelt took office at the worst moment of the greatest economic catastrophe in American history known as the Great Depression. Fifteen million people were unemployed. Stock prices were one-quarter of what they had been in 1929 and industrial output had been almost halved. 5,504 banks had closed since 1930. The New Deal was not by any means completely successful at putting people back to work and revitalizing the economy, but it restored hope and staved off political extremism.
Thus began a presidency which would transform the United States and many of its institutions. Among these would be the federal courts including the Benton term of court established in a statute by Congress on August 12, 1937. Since there was no federal courthouse in Benton until 1958, attorneys in the area found it necessary to file their cases in the other Eastern District courts in East St. Louis, Danville or Cairo.
In June 1949, Congress passed the Public Buildings Act of 1949. This bill was amended on July 22, 1954, as Public Buildings Purchase Contract Act of 1954. Section 411 (Lease-Purchase Provisions) was added which authorized the Administrator of General Services "to acquire title to real property and to provide for the construction of certain public buildings thereon by executing purchase contracts. . ." Under this law and its amendments, the Benton Federal Building was constructed: Specifically, on June 6, 1958, the Benton Federal Building Construction contract was awarded to J.L. Simmons Company, Inc., Decatur, Illinois, in the amount of $755,400 with a completion date of August 27, 1959.
Four months after the award of the construction contract—October 23, 1958—the Cornerstone Laying Ceremony for the Federal Building to house the U.S. Post Office and Court House was held. Keynote speaker was Congressman Kenneth J. Gray, 25th District, Illinois. Other distinguished guests were U.S. Senator Everett M. Dirksen of Illinois; U.S. District Court Judges: Hon. Casper Platt, Chief Judge; Hon. William G. Juergens and Hon. Fred B. Wham (Ret.). The Benton Federal Building currently bears the name "Kenneth Gray Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse."
In December 1973, a press release was issued by U.S. Congressman Kenneth J. Gray, 24th District, Illinois, Washington Office, in which he and Congressman Melvin Price, D-East St. Louis, called on the General Services Administration in Washington to make an immediate space needs survey of the antiquated federal court building in East St. Louis, pointing out that the courthouse was built in 1910 resulting in malfunction for present day needs, very expensive to maintain as well as inadequate parking facilities. . . . Congressman Gray, who is retiring after this term, said, "With the completion of new federal buildings in Benton, a new Eastern District courthouse in East St. Louis will give Southern Illinois a well-balanced building program comprising modern structures that are functional for the needs of the approximately one million citizens who reside in the two Congressional Districts affected."
In November 1987, after four years of serious planning, Chief Judge Foreman made the announcement that his dream of expansion to a full-service court complex in Benton would soon become a reality. Working with General Services Administration and postal service officials, Chief Judge Foreman was instrumental in getting a new post office, paving the way for the bankruptcy court to occupy the vacated space in the federal courthouse.
Approximately three years later, on March 27, 1990, the dedication ceremony of the new post office building located at 301 North DuQuoin Street was held.
The workload in many offices at the federal court continued to increase. In 1990, Chief Judge Foreman stated the need for additional space to house the federal court and ancillary departments and began negotiating with GSA to build or purchase a building to house these departments. In 1991, a news conference unveiled plans for a new 20,000-square-foot office building to be constructed across from the federal courthouse on West Main Street. The two-story building would be made of steel and concrete, to be owned by PHT Inc. of Carbondale and leased to the General Services Administration as a federal office building. In addition to the new building, estimated to cost more than $1 million, another $3 million would be spent for courthouse renovations and the construction of a new addition to the federal courthouse.
On November 13, 1991, the groundbreaking ceremony was held for the new Federal Office Building at 302 West Main Street (across the street from the U.S. Courthouse). The construction and move was completed in July 1992. The new occupants were: U.S. Probation and U.S. Attorney offices, Mine Safety and Health Administration and the U.S. Trustees.
Early in 1992, a base bid dated October 10, 1991, in the amount of $1,958,500 for the construction of the bankruptcy courtroom/chambers, U.S. Marshal's renovation and the U.S. Court's conference room in Benton was awarded by General Services Administration to Korte Construction Company. That same year the remodeling and construction of Senior Judge Foreman's Chambers on the second floor of the Benton Courthouse was finished and move accomplished December 12-17, 1992.
Also in 1992, the Benton branch of the Federal Public Defender's office relocated to new permanent quarters at 112 North DuQuoin, approximately three blocks west of the U.S. Courthouse, completing the building and renovation of the Benton Federal Buildings Complex, fulfilling Chief Judge Foreman's dream since he was named judge in 1972.
Due to continued growth in the federal judiciary during the past ten years, the Benton employees find themselves again faced with cramped working conditions with no available space for expansion in these buildings—problems to be solved in the foreseeable future.
The following materials are available in the East St. Louis library:
Archive of Attorney Admissions - 1905 - 1955
Legislative History of the Southern District of Illinois as of 2001: Including the Judges of the Eastern and Southern Districts of Illinois - Compiled by Deloris Shockley
The Planning and Structuring of the Redistricting of Illinois to Northern, Central and Southern District and The Planning and Development of the New Courthouse in East St. Louis - Compiled by Deloris Shockley, 2 vols.
In Remembrance of William L. Beatty 1925-2001 KF 8775 .B42 2002 The Oral History of Judge William L. Beatty
The Oral History of Judge William D. Stiehl The Oral History of Judge James L. Foreman
The Oral History of Judge G. Patrick Murphy
The Oral History of Judge J. Phil Gilbert
The Oral History of Judge Kenneth J. Meyers
Alton Courthouse Historical Data 1961-2002 - Compiled by Deloris Shockley
U.S. Naturalization Ceremony, Nov. 30, 2007 DVD
