Biohazard Cleanup Near West Dowell Dowell, IL

Dowell is a village in Jackson County, in southern Illinois, that was founded in 1915 purely as a coal town.

Dowell was founded and named by Du Quoin attorney George Dowell - himself a former coal miner - together with William Lafont, who were soliciting bids for property development in the new town as early as 1917.

Dowell boomed almost instantly: by 1922 the town's population was over 2,000 people.

The Dowell State Bank opened in February 1920, with founders George Dowell and William Lafont among its first directors.

Dowell's Kathleen Coal Mine, operated by the Union Colliery Company from 1918 to 1946, was named for Kathleen McAuliffe, the daughter of the company president, and was sunk beginning in 1917.

At its peak the Kathleen Mine produced 5,000 tons of coal per day, and in early 1937 it was the largest producing mine in Jackson County, employing over 500 men.

The tipple built over the Kathleen's main shaft was billed at the time as the largest mine tipple in the world.

The Kathleen Mine was the scene of disasters in both 1921 and 1936, and after it closed in November 1946 the abandoned workings were suspected of causing sinkholes in the village.

A second mine, the New Kathleen, opened in January 1946 but had closed by 1958, ending Dowell's mining era.

Coal mining drew many eastern European immigrants to Dowell, including Rusyns, and founder George Dowell went on to serve as general counsel for the Progressive Miners of America.