Blood & Biohazard Cleanup Near West Colp Colp, IL

Colp is a tiny village in Williamson County, Illinois, covering just 0.14 square miles.

Colp grew up around a coal mine opened in 1901 by the mining company of John Colp (1849-1920), for whom the village is named.

The Illinois Central Railroad extended a line to the Colp mine in 1904, and the village incorporated in 1915, the same year its post office opened.

Colp's mining families included many Eastern European immigrants, among them Rusyns.

Colp was a mining town with segregated schools, and its high school for African American students won a state championship in 1941 while competing in the Southern Illinois Conference of Colored Schools.

The Colp school closed in 1953 in the wake of integration, and its old gymnasium stood until it was demolished in 2025.

Colp mayor Frank Caliper was one of Illinois's longest-serving elected officials, serving 52 years as mayor from 1935 until his death on March 28, 1987.

Colp's population peaked at 1,250 in the 1930 census during the coal boom, but by the 2020 census it had fallen to 168 residents.

At the 2000 census, Colp had 224 people living in 103 households.